Why you should do journalism at East:

Photo by Diana Percy

Most people’s introduction to Room 521 is intimidating, exciting and definitely not clean.

You’re likely at an eighth grade orientation night, crammed into the room that reeks of burnt popcorn and spilled orange Fanta. But you enroll in 21st Century Journalism anyway.

It’s your first day of freshman year and you’re in J1. You later find out you are a terrible writer after your first Leaguetown, you can’t design an ad for Bubba’s Flowers to save your life and you are about to get your lowest grade of high school.

Why would anyone want to pursue journalism here?

Fifty-six issues, four staffs and almost 2,000 pages later, I often ask myself this same question. Tate will never say my work is great – maybe that my headline is clever if I’m lucky. We will never be ahead of schedule no matter how productive we are in class. My peers flipping through the paper on distribution day will never know I stayed up until 2 a.m. on deadline because the story changed that night.

But when my little sister, Libby, was getting ready to apply for staff, I told her why Harbinger is the coolest extra-curricular you could join.

And I told her why I love being a “J-Kid.”

You get a grade for reviewing chocolate. You win a design award for throwing lit cigs in a graduation cap for a cover of an addiction story. You get into Rockhurst games for free to stand by a camera for half an hour.

You master InDesign, saving you a hefty bill when you are able to design your own resumé. You learn to listen and be spontaneous in interviews, letting the story take its own direction.  

You get to spend every other Wednesday night eating free Chick-Fil-A and laugh-crying with your friends at 10 p.m. You may be reciting every word to “Where is the Love?” but that isn’t a distraction for you. Finalizing your page is almost muscle-memory – you’ve learned to meet a real deadline with a real printing company.

But best of all, you will meet the coolest, most hard-working, driven and genuine people on staff. This program has not only given me friendships with those outside of my niche – artists, thespians, IB kids – it has introduced me to my better half.

Daisy, I couldn’t have done this whole high school thing without you. You push me to be my best, make me laugh – even in the mornings – and splurge-eat with me despite your delusional kickboxing schedule. I can’t wait to see what you do in the future and I love you with all of my heart.

Libby, and everyone else considering being a part of journalism at East, this is why you should do it. You will learn the stench of Robbie’s Indian takeout leftovers and old Chipotle rice compliment the blue couch in a disturbing, yet comforting, way. Tate will become your source of entertainment / worst nightmare. The friendships you make will last beyond these four years of high school. And, like me, you’ll learn all the reasons to love being a J-Kid.