Summer is coming once again and it feels like just yesterday we were all rushing down department stores trying to buy school supplies. The school year passes by us so fast that we have no time to realize what hit us, and the school’s Gryphon Gazette journalism class is no exception to this.

Many of us have spent long hours in Mr. Reed’s room trying to meet deadlines and trying to ensure our best work was put in the paper.

We all have so much to do and on top of it all we work by trying not to allow any mistakes pass us by, which is why it becomes very difficult for many to keep up with all the constant deadlines, all while producing the best paper we possibly can, but with all the criticism from both the student body and the staff this becomes very difficult.

Nevertheless, the agonizing time spent in that dreaded room 9 has brought each journalist closer to one another; the memories shared in that room will always be kept within each and every one of us. Not only have we, as journalist, strived to put out our best work for the student body and the community, but we have also managed to grow beyond our own boundaries. Story after story each journalist learns how to manage and expand their writing to heights, some that they never knew before.

As the editor in chief of the Gryphon Gazette I struggled through things neither the journalists nor the other editors had to struggle through. I inclusively learned new things about journalism, and even myself, which I could not had been able to realize without the journalism class. For example, I am genuinely a quiet kid and although I might be full of many intellectual thoughts I have a difficult time expressing them. The journalism class allowed me to express myself in ways I never had done before. I now have both the power and opportunity to share my opinions with the rest of the world.

I learned, as well, how to manage being an authoritative figure to the rest of my peers, but I lacked dominating the power I had. It is easy to abuse the authority over others, but that was not my case. Instead of over-using the power I had over the class, I lacked motivating the other writers enough to believe in themselves, and the class.

Nevertheless, journalism has by far been the best experience I have had here at APB, no matter how much stress, pressure or anger I was put under, I would not trade this experience for anything. The arguments and topics discussed in this class are not compared to any others; the topics discussed allowed many of us to connect to our inner selves and to each other.

We shared experiences and moments that cannot be replaced with any other thing, and as our saying goes: “what happens in journalism, stays in journalism.” The journalism class is more than a class, it is a family, and I am honestly proud to say I was part of this class and that I shared this experience with my fellow classmates.

But of course no matter how much time or effort was done from my part, the editors, or the writers, none of this could have been done without a great teacher like Mr. Reed. Reed is one of the teachers I respect the most for his dedication to the class and all the things he does in order to help us achieve our goals. Without Reed, none of us in the class would be passionate about writing as we are now.

Journalism is life, it shapes us to follow ethics and “seek the truth and report it.”