SIGNING OFF CONT

Signing off as editor-in-chief cont...

SIGNING OFF Continued from page 8

-but also because an English teacher was one of my only allies in a community that only seemed to foster disdain for me or anyone like me.

Anything to do with reading or writing helped provide some semblance of an outlet for my emotions.

Throughout my life, I tended to throw myself into fictional worlds to live vicariously through a character that wasn’t myself.

I desperately wanted to reinvent myself, but I was trapped within the suburbia of the Inland Northwest where almost everyone knew who I used to be and refused to accept and acknowledge who I wanted to be.

This lack of support culminated in my desire to both educate others as well as uplift and support marginalized voices within and outside of my community.

I wrote several essays within my junior and senior years of high school about activism within the LGBTQ+ community in attempts to be somewhat journalistic in my approach towards my teachers and professors within the guidelines of what we were supposed to be writing about.

My real, first attempt at journalistic writing was in third grade when I hand wrote and copied a newspaper focused around the events of my grade. Classmates who wanted to read it could pick up a copy and then return it once they were finished, since I didn’t have access to a copier and couldn’t give out the precious copies I had painstakingly recreated several times, including comics on the back pages.

Even with all of these experiences, I was still unsure about what I wanted to do as a career well into my senior year of high school.

I had desperately wanted to be an author, but I knew that without first establishing myself in the professional art and/or writing world somehow, I most likely wasn’t going to be able to find much success.

It wasn’t until I looked back on my experiences and after reading two books written by a journalist-turned-author that I fully

Ollie Fisher | The Communicator Every three weeks, I help produce The Communicator using Adobe InDesign alongside my advisor and managing editor. Because of the all-online quarter, I’m often doing this from my bed or my desk.

realized what I wanted to do with my life.

All of this is to say that, through taking this class, I have found my passion and choice of career.

I want to provide a voice to those who, like me, feel or felt othered by the rest of the world and either have no or a very limited platform to speak on.

I have been inspired by the likes of Glenn Greenwald, one of the reporters who worked with and first broke the story about Edward Snowden.

I want to make sure those in power are held accountable for their actions, as I have been taught and told that journalists are one of the watchdogs of governments all around the world.

I am eternally grateful to have had the experiences I did, including going to New York City for the first time in my life.

I owe my success in this class largely in part to my adviser and professor, Lindsey Treffry, who has become one of my favorite teachers and has thoroughly inspired me to continue to pursue journalism as a career.

Though my time spent as staff of The Communicator was shorter than I intended, I will cherish the memories and connections I have made not only with my peers but with my advisor and professor.

I never thought I would be in the position I am today as editor-in-chief of a newspaper.

I haven’t fancied myself a leader of anything before, but I am so grateful that I was allowed to take this position and help both guide and work with my fellow reporters and managing editor.

I encourage anyone reading this to pursue your passions, because it is from your passions that you may find a fulfilling and successful career.