This column is part the Senior Goodbye series: reflections from graduating editors and writers of Niles West News.
NWN has been one of the greatest sources of joy and fulfillment I’ve had at Niles West. It’s provided me with an outlet for creativity, a sense of purpose and a means to explore topics I’d never even known about before joining.
I remember writing my first feature and being like, “Whoa, this is fun.” I learned so much about an individual I admired. I got to see aspects of their life and personality I wouldn’t have been able to without NWN. When it came time to write the article, I felt this intense pressure to get it right. It wasn’t just some story I could halfheartedly write; this was someone’s story- a quote I still remember about features came from a presentation I saw on our annual field trip to the NISPA journalism conference (Northern Illinois Scholastic Press Association ). The presenter was Leon J. Goodman, and he was telling us not only how to write a good feature but how to find a good subject.
“These [features] are the stories that will be clipped, the stories that will be put into albums or scanned on a computer,” Goodman said.
It made me realize that though features weren’t the most thrilling or even seen as the most “important,” they were important, maybe not to everyone, but at least to someone. So, I put all my heart into the feature, listened to my 20-minute-long recording, and made sure to refine all the details.
When I became features section editor, I knew that I wanted to add a new twist to the section, make it more personal and make our writers more invested. I found inspiration when I walked into APUSH (AP U.S. History). While I was creating my presentation on my family’s immigration story, I realized how much effort I was putting into it, but more importantly, how much effort other students were putting into their families’ stories.
They felt what I had the first time I wrote a feature; they felt the intense need to get it right because it was their story. From there, I brought it up to our advisor, Rachel Gross and thankfully, she saw how it could bring a unique flair to our publication. I used my script from my immigration project and pitched the idea to others in NWN. From there, we had a whole heap of stories to edit and fine-tune in a week- stories that documented treacherous journeys, leaps of faith and brave feats.
The one thing all these stories had in common was the amount of sincerity and pride I felt in every word. I’m honored to help these individuals share their stories and our writers gain insight into their family history. I hope these stories gave these writers the opportunity NWN’s features section gave me: the ability to make someone’s story count.
