As May comes to an end, and the school year comes to a close, I finish my senior year with this last article. I began my journey in my junior year and am now finishing off my last year in high school as a part of the Haystack staff. These two years have been a crazy ride not just for me, but for the whole world. But, throughout the craziness of the global pandemic, I was still able to have a fun and exciting journey, being in the Haystack staff.

I originally joined the Newspaper class at the beginning of my junior year because my friend, Jenna Martinez, recommended me to go when signing up for classes my sophomore year. It was mostly because my friend had begun working a part time job, and we would see each other less throughout the year, and we both agreed that having a class together would be a great time for us to hang out. But, the moment that I had joined the class, and had been assigned my first article, I became a writing machine. The 7th hour Newspaper class no longer seemed like a study hall to me, but a place where I could be free to write about current events, and speak my mind about these different topics and events. It had gotten to the point where I would write a story, spend the time between either playing games or talking to my friends, like what was originally proposed, but get right back to writing when I was ready. To me, being a part of the Haystack staff and walking into the classroom, where we were free to talk and write about almost everything and talk to others, with the only condition that we get our work done, was a nice change to classes where it was strict getting work done and staying quiet. Not that I blame my teachers, other students tended to get loud about certain topics during class time, but, halfway through the second semester of my first year of being in the Newspaper classroom, the pandemic had begun…

Much like many other students, the pandemic had hit hard, and online learning was hard to keep up with, especially with the mindset where home was my relaxing place, a place where I didn’t have to listen closely to a teacher, and could instead listen closely to movies or video games or my family, but, being in the Haystack staff was still a huge priority of mine. And yes, while during the online learning days, I would’ve preferred screen time through games rather than through learning, writing stories was one of the small group of things that reminded me during the pandemic that school is still important, especially since writing articles about current events had expanded my love for writing ideas, stories and of course, articles.

Now, as the 2020-2021 school year comes to an end, and I am approaching closer and closer towards the graduation day, I think about all I was able to learn and accomplish by writing stories, and what would’ve happened if I decided not to join the class. I will miss being a part of the Haystack staff, especially since I won’t be able to surround myself with the same people next year, as I move on to bigger things. But, like how Queen has sung, “The Show must Go On.” And I know the memories I have will stick with me forever, and I will never regret joining one of the best classes, and writing some very interesting stories.