Coming to New Trier, I knew less people than I could count on two hands, one of whom being my twin sister. I was intimidated by the size of the school, the amount of faces I didn’t recognize, and the abundance of opportunities that presented themselves to me. Though I always loved reading, I didn’t discover my passion for writing and interviewing until Media Production class freshman year, where Mr. O’Connor encouraged me to sign up for Advanced Journalism for the following year. It is to him that I am eternally grateful to – I never would have joined this community, the New Trier News, that has grown to mean so much to me.  

It has been through interviewing and working for the newspaper that New Trier is no longer the gargantuan, 4,000 student school that I once perceived it to be. As I walk through the halls or enter local businesses, I am able to recognize people from the girls golf team, ELS club, the business owners themselves – all due to the work I have done for the newspaper, the time I have spent contacting sources, speaking to them and hearing their stories, and translating what matters to them onto the page. Thanks to the New Trier News, I am not confined to my group of friends, my field hockey teammates, the people I work with – every face holds a story that I have told or could tell.

This community and school which was once so vast, feels much smaller as I prepare to leave it. Recently, I have been thinking about articles I wish I wrote during my time on the New Trier News, the people I could have highlighted. Though I doubt this regret will pass entirely, I am excited to read the exciting work from the upcoming editors and writers from my new home in Charlottesville. While I have been grateful for the stories I have gotten to share while writing for the New Trier News, my true gratitude lies in the institution of the newspaper itself, which has been essential in allowing me to forge my own path as a Trevian and discover where I belong.