![Reaching out. Christopher Lesh, student at Central Catholic High School, serves ice cream during the event on March 2, 2025, at the Portland waterfront. Central Catholic was just one of the schools that sent student volunteers out to cook, prepare, dish, and serve food. Interact club’s co-president Rachel Gerber, junior, plated the food during the event. “I like how direct the contact is,” Gerber said. “You’re there [and] you’re just doing something good. It’s simple, it’s easy, you can feel good about it.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/interact-1-edited-1200x744.jpg)
*WEB CONTINUATION: This article originally appeared in Volume 105 Issue 4 of our news magazine, Amplifier.
The majority of seniors are focusing their little remaining energy on end-of-year events: prom, graduation, and senior trips. As the year comes to an end, I’ve found myself reflecting on the past four years that I have spent in high school and how I have changed as a person.
My goal for senior year was to branch out, to meet new people, and find other passions. The first step for me was to join a new class. Although I had already taken Media Publications 1-2, the introductory course for Journalism, the year prior, I did not know exactly what I was getting myself into.
I chose Journalism because I enjoyed writing. As soon as I entered the classroom and learned how intense the process of creating a publication was, I was immediately interested. The perfect opportunity to involve myself deeper into the high school community was to cover events and people that make the school the environment that it is. For the first three news cycles, I only wrote feature stories because I had found them most comfortable to interview and write about.
During the first semester awards, I had written so many feature stories that I had been dubbed “Feature Fanatic.” I knew that I had to work outside of my comfort zone, and so I next chose to tackle sports.
I branched out to interview and research a baseball story, which turned out to be my favorite article to date. I went into the assignment with very little knowledge about the sport as a whole, and left the print article with a new understanding. Since then, I have written in multiple sections, including opinions and current events.
Not only did I diversify my writing portfolio, but I also met and reconnected with multiple people who have impacted my life in a variety of ways, from people who help me grow as a journalist to friends I will have for the rest of my life. Although I do not plan to pursue journalism in college, I know it will always hold a special place in my heart, and the memories surrounding room D102 will never be forgotten. If there is one takeaway that I gained from the past four years, it is that I wish I had joined the journalism staff earlier.
