Reporting from the Inside
One day you’ll become the next generation — the future of The Python Post. Honors Journalism can be a hard class if you struggle with your writing, but it gives it a place for people to speak their thoughts. One of the few powerful features that we possess is our voice.
To the future generation of the Python Post,
I personally would love to welcome you all to our last and final issue for the school year. I enjoyed every minute of it and every piece I’ve made just for you all. It all went by so fast! Funny how this senior class won’t be making any more articles for the Python Post, but that doesn’t mean the Python Post will end. NO! I know many of us are upset to leave the Journalism Team, leaving behind so many unwritten stories that will remain only ideas. I’m glad that I was able to write down stories that were and still are very valuable to me, ones that I was able to share that with you all! And, as a final piece, I want to tell you about what goes on behind the scenes of each issue – from beginning to end with the help of my team.
The first week of the month, we all had to take formative assessments, as well as reading the different types of writing styles there are, and figuring out the type of writers we wanted to be. There were so many to choose from: Investigative Reporting, Features, Sports, Community, Arts+Culture, and Opinion. We would read articles from different genres to give us inspiration for what we wanted to do. I knew I wanted to highlight people who really stood out within the community and share their story with everyone to illustrate the many steps they took which shaped them to be who they are today. This process never stopped being remarkable. I love to keep learning, listening, and talking – and as a Feature Writer I knew I’d be able to do such things.
I’ll explain the writing process. First, we would come up with an idea to pitch to our editor: Devin Kelly. We would summarize what we were proposing; the purpose and context. Then we would have to answer a few questions: why is it important? Why would I want to write such a piece? As we explained, we had to connect our proposal to at least two newsworthy values: Proximity, Prominence, Impact, Timeliness, Human Interest, or Conflict. We have about a week to finalize our pitch and we sometimes create small presentation slides to share what we’ll be writing about for that month’s issue. Second, we would have our first rough draft due within the next few days. Lastly, we woul have to finish our final drafts as our editor made a few adjustments to strengthen our writing.
The truth is that not everyone’s article gets published, so don’t be thinking it’s easy when it’s not. This is an Honors class which means this is not your average writing class. We must all write and learn how to be flexible in our work time. The work pace is always moving quickly and we must keep up. There can be many reasons as to why someone’s article wouldn’t be published; either they slacked off, forgot the deadline, their article wasn’t strong enough, or their pitch wasn’t approved. The only time you receive a failing grade is if your article doesn’t get published.
Now let me explain to you all why others and I decided to take Honors Journalism in the first place. Ms. Rebitizer had recommended me to apply for Honors Journalism because she knew of the potential in my writing. I didn’t see it though, but she had me realizing something. For those who don’t know, I transferred to this school in the 10th grade. I forgot to mention how much I used to write in my former school and my Humanities teacher had always told me that she could hear my voice in my writing. She told me to not change because it’s so unique and it’s my style – mi flow.
I thought I lacked the writing skills to be a good writer but honestly, I was in awe after hearing feedback from Mr. Kelly about my writing. After reviewing responses from my classmates, I came to find out that many of us had different reasons for joining but similar feelings at the beginning. Let’s hear from them:
Fathima Ballee: “I chose to be in this class because I have a passion for writing and I knew journalism would be a different style than essay writing, my usual writing style, and I wanted to try it out. ”
Laila Ayala: “I chose to be in this class after Mr. Kelly told me about it and recommended I be in it. I set the expectation of producing good work.”
Adyel Lantigua: “I chose to be in this class because it seemed like a very different ELA class. Mr. Kelly also pitched it to the class while I was there. I expect myself to talk about something people might not find interesting, and then make it interesting.”
Djenabou Diallo: “I felt that this class would be a good challenge to my writing. Being creative would be the main challenge for me.”
MadysonLove Jacobs: “I originally wasn't accepted into this class but was placed in due to my schedule honestly. When coming into this class, I set an expectation of always completing my homework, which I met but also improved compared to my last year ELA class.”
Different experiences but they all became amazing writers — EVERYONE in the Python Post. Yet, we all shared a similar experience in the beginning as the aforementioned feelings show. We all experienced a sense of nervousness since this was the first ever Newspaper for the school and we were used to writing essays for exams or formative assessments. Many of us had felt stuck and confused on what we were going to write about. Some of us already knew what we were going to write about, but struggled with just the matter of implementing it onto paper. Some of us, like myself, were worrying about getting everything “perfect” and if we were going to produce something good. Then the first ever Python Post came about and everyone went NUTS! Everyone was so excited about people reading their articles, but of course there were negative comments – which is okay. The whole point for us to continue making many stories that may be controversial is to create conversations among you all.
Some of us struggled while others didn’t. I personally struggled from time to time to a point where I wanted to give up, stop working and experienced a writer's block. It was harder and harder going into the school year more and more, but I always found myself producing good work. Sometimes it would be hard to come up with ideas because either they were too vague or someone already thought about it. I could co-write a piece with them but I want to produce a lot of my own writing. Here are some responses that I gathered about other people’s struggles:
Fathima Bellee: “I didn't face any major struggle, I kinda fell into a rhythm with my writing.”
Laila Ayala: “Mostly just negative reactions to my writing but I overcame them once I realized I can't control anyone else's reaction.”
Adyel Lantigua: “Writer's block hits me sometimes, but I always end up having something to write about.”
MadysonLove Jacobs: “I sometimes faced the struggle of finding something to write about and finding the motivation, but this usually occurred when we got deeper into Journalism. It was very difficult to overcome but I had some help with my friends and Mr. Kelly, who helped me get back on my feet and get back on my journey.”
Brianna Osorio: “Yes, I would struggle putting my ideas into words or just outlining my articles, but Mr Kelly always helped me and I began to get the hang of things.”
We love the Python Post and I highly recommend that everyone takes Honors Journalism into consideration. One day you’ll become the next generation — the future of The Python Post. Honors Journalism can be a hard class if you struggle with your writing but it gives it a place for people to speak their thoughts. One of the few powerful features that we possess is our voice. Everyone shares that we all love the class, the teacher, the stories that we can write about, how powerful our voices can be, and the creativity everyone brings. It’s so fun!
Now it’s your turn. You think you’ll be ready for next year’s Honors Journalism class? Do you know what type of writer you want to be? I hope everyone brings their 1000% to this class and produces the best pieces. Good luck everyone!
Cheers to the past and here’s to the future — the future of the Python Post!
Signing off,
David Cardoso & The Rest of the Journalism Team