I don’t really think a lot of people at this school realize exactly what I do. When I walk down the hallway, people don’t automatically see me and think, “Oh, she’s the editor of North Star News!” To most people, I am just an ordinary student. Unless you are a student that enters the Journalism classroom, then I basically become your boss. 

My name is Nicole, and I have been editor in chief of the North Star News Journalism team for the past 3 years. It is interesting, you would think the position would go to someone who is a senior, but I got it when I was a sophomore. I didn’t go into News Production thinking that I would get such a role, I just took the class because someone said you would get honors credit and an easy A. Then, I suppose someone saw something in me, and it just happened when I got a Remind message saying that I am the editor. 

There have been many opportunities given to me because I am the editor in chief of the newspaper. I was able to get a scholarship from the school because of my journalistic efforts. Not only that, but it allowed me to be a leader to a group of people. Even though sometimes I don’t want to admit it, I have had a take-charge personality ever since I was a kid. So this role was quite frankly made for me. 

Though being editor in chief is a big honor, it isn’t all glory. It becomes a job. You’re working until midnight to make sure each story is edited and ready for publishing. If someone doesn’t do their job, you have to do it. You become less of a peer to the people around you and more like a teacher figure. It causes a disconnect between you and everyone else. They stop treating you like a student.

This year has possibly been the worst for me personally. I don’t know how many times the class goes silent and no one responds to the simple question of who can take an article. It feels as though you are fighting for their attention away from their phone. Sometimes not getting a story in on time, someone thinking this was just an easy class with no work, or someone who simply doesn’t communicate with everyone else has never been new to this class. 

This class is a newsroom, everyone has to be a part of the machine or everything will fall apart very quickly. But, as editor, you are the glue that holds the whole mechanism together, even if that means you feel as though you are falling apart. 

But, like with everything, I still find a way to pull through even when I have no idea what I am doing. I feel as though in order to get through my turbulent life, I’ve had to just go with the flow of everything going on around me. I feel as though the best trait for the next editor in chief to have would be the ability to adapt to certain situations. To keep your cool, even when you feel as though everything is too much. 

But, at the end of the day, I don’t really have any regrets about my high school experience or my tenure as Editor in Chief. My only grievance is that the class wasn’t two semesters long for the past two years. The news is very important whether we like to admit it or not. It is how we connect to our community, learn about different topics, become exposed to different national or worldwide events, or simply read little reviews on what to watch. 

I hope that the North Star News team continues their efforts in journalism and that more people discover this class hidden in their course book. 

Sayonara, Farewell, Goodbye. 

Nicole Nantz