COLUMNS

Being a student journalist has changed me as a person

BY EMILY HELMUTH co-editor-in-chief

Finishing high school is an exciting, scary, and overall emotional time. As I look forward to the next stage of my life, I look back on some of the experiences that have gotten me to this point. One of these experiences that has shaped me the most into who I am today is my time as a student journalist.

In my role as Inklings Editor-in-Chief, I have learned how to manage a team. Needless to say, it is not always easy. Inklings has given me the chance to develop these people skills and improve my leadership ability.

Speaking of people skills, journalism has made me a more extroverted person. Freshman me would never have had the courage to interview people I don’t know, yet now I not only have the courage to interview these people, but I also can have a meaningful conversation with them and form a connection with them as well.

My time management as well as stress management are another set of skills that have improved from Inklings. At Inklings, we are deadline people. You learn this very quickly when joining staff, as you cannot miss a deadline here. Inklings taught me how to manage my busy schedule,

as outside of being Editor-in-Chief I also am an AP student, I work part time and I have leadership roles in two other clubs as well as membership in more clubs. Recently, I was named one of five finalists for the Indiana High School Journalist of the Year award, and I was completely speechless when I found out. It boggled my mind that I was considered for such a prestigious award, and it reminded me just how important my work here at Inklings is. To any juniors, sophomores, freshmen or even middle schoolers reading this column, I highly recommend that you take journalism (and eventually newspaper) at some point in time during high school. This class has completely changed my high school experience for the better. Even if you do not want to be a journalist, this class will help you so much in ways you won’t even realize until you’re at the end of your Inklings experience. I honestly do not plan on pursuing a career in journalism, as I plan to pursue my undergraduate degree in civil engineering in the fall. Despite this, Inklings has been my place during my high school career, and it can be that for you too. Vaccines bring hope for the future, but it is still a struggle

BY NOLAN CHASE co-editor-in-chief

The end of this pandemic seems to be in sight which comes as a huge relief to me and I know it comes as a major relief to countless other individuals. We still have to push through this year and wait for the majority of people to be vaccinated, but at least people are getting vaccinated and the end is finally visible which is something we couldn’t say a few months ago.

As a fully online student, this pandemic has been really hard for me to adjust to that aspect of school. Finding the motivation to finish a math assignment is much easier to do when I am sitting in a classroom versus sitting in my bedroom. I’ve gotten better at that as the school year has progressed but I am thankful that I won’t have to do it for much longer.

The recent surge in vaccinations gives me hope that this pandemic is not long for this world. It seems we have a higher vaccination rate than Europe so I hope our return to normalcy comes sooner rather than later.

While our vaccination rate is higher than other places in the world, it has still been a struggle for some people to get their vaccines. My grandparents have been trying to get the vaccine since they first opened for their age group. They are both 75 years old and only within the last couple of days have received their vaccine.

Some people are still unfortunately waiting even long to receive their vaccines even if they fall in the right age group or qualify for the vaccine. People are waiting online in queues and calling Walgreens for hours on end just for the chance to get their vaccine.

It was also a struggle for teachers to get their vaccines at first. Teachers should have immediately been qualified to get their vaccines in the earlier stages. However, I am thankful teachers have been getting their vaccines recently and they won’t have to keep worrying about their lives as they enter the school building every day.

While the road to get them has been bumpy and there are still plenty of more hurdles to cross, these vaccines feel like a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. I hope production of vaccines remains efficient, and I hope we can return to normalcy soon.