My name is Andrew Davis. I am a rising freshman going to Campbell High School’s IB program. I do chorus and play soccer. I sing bass and play as a central midfielder. I listen to too much Taylor Swift for some reason (I’m not aware how I ended up listening to so much of her music, I heard some and thought it was good.) My favorite album of hers is Red, but my favorite album overall is renaissance by Beyonce. I love journalism and I think that it is something that I could get into as an adult. I also speak Spanish pretty well.

A few favorites of mine:

Show: DC Legends of Tomorrow. Food: spaghetti. Song: Dear John or Virgo’s Groove (changes very often) Soccer team: Manchester City Video game: FC24

I have a large family, as my dad has 9 siblings. My dad is from Atlanta, while my mother is from Chicago. As a result of where my mother is from, I have been to Chicago very many times. I have 2 siblings of my own, one sister and one brother. They are both much older than me, 29 and 31 respectively.

hi, im madison connor and im a rising senior at hebron christian academy. I am a huge swiftie, as well as a fan of chappell roan, harry styles, olivia rodrigo, and sabrina carpenter. For the longest time I thought I would see sports in my future career, considering that i played volleyball and soccer for years and years, however, this quickly changed when i faced injury after injury and bad experience after bad experience. my mental health as well as physical health was deteriorating, and i decided to quit sports. i was mostly unsure of what would be next until i saw a production of newsies jr., and decided that i wanted to try theater. i tried theater, and i absolutely adored it.

this newfound love of theater led to a reintroduction of my passion for literary arts. ever since I was a kid, I had always expressed my feelings with a pen, writing songs, poems, or even short stories, because i found that symbolism and writing was sometimes easier than direct communication, and years later, this was still true. However, i was still unsure of what to do, especially considering that I had quit sports. I found the answer within my 10th and 11th grade language arts classes. we read literary classics like Julius Caesar, Animal Farm, and 1984, and I fell in love with history and language arts once more, combined with how it ties into modern politics, which led me to my next epiphany: journalism.

Journalism for me is a form of simple communication to the outside world of what is going on, sprinkled in with the occasional opinion. I experienced this the most in my AP Lang class, where my teacher would make us choose a news article on a controversial topic, and report on it. The interesting part of this assignment was that i would always choose a topic that made others uncomfortable, especially since I contradict the average opinions at my school, and I would challenge those opinions every chance I got. This natural form of argumentation so deeply embedded within me led me once more to journalism, because I can tell someone else’s story, using my unique background and knowledge, to justify the unexpected opinion of a girl from a small town and small private school within Dacula, Georgia. Since then, I have been developing my own opinions through hours of research, reading, and experimentation, so that way I can bring a fresh and unique outlook to my otherwise bland high school, and that is exactly what journalism means to me.

Hi! I’m Liv. I’m 16 years old, and I come from a little town called Dublin in the-middle-of-nowhere Georgia. I go to West Laurens High School, and I am a junior officer for SkillsUSA, and an At-Large representative for the Dublin City Youth Council. I first discovered my love for writing when I was 11, during quarantine. My mom had always encouraged me to read, which eventually inspired me to write a book of my own. Although the final product of the countless hours I spent in front of my mom’s laptop was no astounding work of literature, it did spark my passion for writing.

I hope to attend the University of Georgia and major in journalism so that I can go on to write for magazines or even be an author. Although I have not yet decided exactly what career I intend to pursue, I know that I want to spend the rest of my life writing. I believe that the University of Georgia would be an exceptional place to begin.

Aside from writing, I love to read. I read books of all genres, but my favorites are YA fantasy and romance. This year, I have read 20 books so far, and am working towards my goal of reading 50 books in 2024. The authors I tend to enjoy most are Emily Henry, Suzanne Collins and V.E. Schwab. I am also a pianist and have been playing for eight years. When I was young, I used to dread my piano lessons and beg my mom to let me quit, but now I am thankful that she made me push through. Playing the piano has become my favorite hobby and my proudest accomplishment. My preferred type of music to play is the classical style, such as Beethoven and Mozart, but I also love to arrange my own piano covers of pop music on my own time.

I have been swimming since I was very young and now am on three teams. I swim for my High Schools varsity team, the Capitol Sea-Devils and my neighborhood team The Somerset Dolphins. I love swimming because it brings a sense of community and great team bonding. As well as playing sports, I also enjoy taking photos. In the spring of my freshman year of high school I took photos for the girls lacrosse team and helped out taking photos for The Dolphins. Photography and writing both are parts of my interest which is why media and journalism are paths I would love to continue to learn and explore.

I have attended a sleep away camp in Hartford, Maine since 2018 named Camp Wekeela. I learned many important traits there. I am a very independent person from camp, and it taught me to make and keep in touch with friends all over the globe. When I was young, I waited all year just to go back. Those 2 months in the place I called my second home was all I cared about. However I think one of the most important aspects was not having my phone or other electronics. In 2024 we are all attached to the hip with our phones and its important to remember how to be with people without then.

I am dyslexic, so things come to me a bit harder then some others. My education in London was struggle as kids are taught to read around 5 to 6 years old. It wasn’t until I moved to Maryland that my teacher caught my struggle. I attended a program to reteach me to read. Growing up I thought having dyslexia was the end of the world, but as I have grown up it has taught me to look at things differently. I challenge myself and take classes that other kids who also have learning challenges don’t usually take. I took AP government my freshman year. It was a great chance to see how AP classes are formatted and taught me what to and not to do for my future AP courses.

I love spending time with my friends and family, I am the oldest of 3. I have younger brother who is 13, a younger sister who is 10 and a dog named Archie. I love to travel and listen to music and I am very excited to get my license. I went to Stagecoach Music Festival in April in Palm Springs, California where Coachella is.That’s it from me!

Hi readers, My name is Grace and I’m about to enter my junior year of high school. I’m originally from New York City but I spent 4 years in Washington D.C and am now going on to my second year living in Palm Beach, Florida. I spent my sophomore year and now going into my junior year at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach. I have little experience in the journalism aspect of writing but I have always had a peaked interest in poetry and short stories. I am now interested in learning about journalism because I want to write for my school paper and help put the yearbook together, and I’m hoping journalism can help cement some fundamentals of writing for me. Writing has always been something I enjoyed learning more about, I also enjoy reading articles and blogs which is another reason I’m interested in Journalism.

I’ve now moved three times across the U.S. from New York City to Washington D.C. to Florida; this has helped shape me into who I am right now. It is fair to say I’ve had many different experiences and I’ve been exposed to different styles of life and circumstances which has helped me mature and evolve quicker than the average teenager. By spending most of my formative years in NYC and Washington D.C., I’ve cemented certain values, societal views, and judgments that threw me into a culture shock after moving to Florida. I am grateful for being able to experience all different kinds of places and livelihoods but it’s been a struggle to figure out exactly who I am and where I belong. I believe this is part of the reason journalism has caught my eye. At a young age, there are already topics, controversies, and societal issues I want to talk about because of the things I’ve been exposed to growing up.

Living in cities most of my life, I never really got into the whole sports world until I started going to an all-girls sleepaway camp. I was 7 years old when I was introduced to the sailboat, and ever since then, sailing has been my outlet for everything. I was so infatuated with sailing that for four years in a row, I triple-booked sailing on my camp schedule so I could do it all day, over and over again. Everyone thought it was silly but now sailing is an advantage I have, especially once moving to Florida. I now get the chance to sail competitively and I get to be part of a team for the next two years there is nothing I find more joy in than doing what inspires me and getting to be part of a team during this time of my life.

I’m pretty much an open book, I love binge-watching shows with my mom, and I’m especially into British murder mysteries right now. I have Raising Canes at least twice a week and I love to drive around with my friends whenever we’re bored. I love teddy bears, I’ve been building my collection since I was 5 years old and I’m going to keep collecting. I go back home to Washington D.C. at least once a month so I can be with my friends and family there. Living in Florida has been really nice, my friends and I take any opportunity we can to tan at the beach (which is every day). I love to laugh, 99% of the time if you see me I’m laughing. This is a quick overview of my life and where I am right now!

Peace – Grace Bennett

“Alright, people. Let’s start at the beginning one last time.”

I’m Averi, a graduate student pursuing a master’s in journalism and mass communication from the University of Georgia. I also attended UGA during my time as an undergraduate and obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism with minors in English and Spanish. I grew up about two hours south of Athens in a somewhat small town called Griffin.

As a graduate student, I focus largely on the visual aspects of journalism and mass media and the ways that audiences interact with and perceive this media. I’m also a graduate assistant for Columns, the university’s online newspaper. With Columns, I love writing profiles and meeting some really cool people around campus. It’s given me the chance to explore different parts of UGA that I normally wouldn’t think about. For example, I had the great pleasure of meeting one of the people that helped create a termite mound that’s currently sitting in the gorilla enclosure at Zoo Atlanta.

I’ve also worked with other publications such as The Red & Black, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and InfUSion Magazine as a writer, photographer and editor for various desks. I really love movies (gold star if you can guess my favorite movie based on this blog post), so one of my favorite things that I’ve done while at UGA is cover Backlight, an annual student-organized film festival.

Two Truths and a Lie:
– I once watched all twelve seasons of The Big Bang Theory in a month.
– Until the 8th grade, I was dead set on working for the CIA because I was obsessed with spy and detective novels.
– I was my region’s spelling bee champion for 5 years in a row during grade school.

I was always told that my diagnosis for ADHD should not affect my performance. I disagree.

I had always had trouble focusing on my schoolwork, listening to others and frequently fidgeting. I did not go to a psychiatrist until junior year, where he told me I was in the 90th percentile for ADHD. He did give me medications, but I was denied specific plans to aid me in my performance at school. 

Ever since COVID-19, mental health diagnoses have been increasingly persistent. According to The National Institutes of Health, “Rates of anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder have increased since the beginning of the pandemic.” 

Whether it is anxiety, depression, ADHD or other severe forms of disorders, many students have found it hard to perform at school, work and sports. Little accommodations and leeway are provided for students, even with a real diagnosis from a psychiatrist. 

Students absorb the pressure of school constantly, including all of the assignments, tests, papers and finals that are thrown their way. But students experiencing mental disorders, even at a lower level, explode with the persistent demand for excellence. According to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, “Many college students report that mental health difficulties interfere with their studies.” 

With countless students feeling the same way, it is hard to ignore the necessity for change. Also, with limited amounts of plans to distribute for aid, many students who do experience mental troubles aren’t given the support and resources they need.

It’s also difficult to express mental disorders to teachers, because some do not take them seriously, as it wasn’t prominent in their lives as students. Many professors and teachers believe students are utilizing the opportunity to gain advantages over other students, when they aren’t the ones who actually need help. 

To accommodate for the situation at hand, teachers and students should be well educated on what mental illnesses and health actually entail. Many could be uneducated about the real impacts these illnesses have on others, and could further expand the amount of support these students with the illnesses require. Although teachers cannot give weeks worth of leeway to students, they can work with students to make sure they understand the information and feel more comfortable and confident. This would also strengthen teacher and student relationships, advocating for a good relationship with a teacher that the student can trust. 

Mental health is not a joke. While many may not believe in it, or make fun of someone who experiences it, it is extremely fundamental to understand the importance of mental health. Those who seem well may not always be, and increasing support for people in need might just save a life.

17 kids hurt, 17 people missing, 17 lives lost, 1 gun.

It was such a long time ago now that so many people have forgotten, but I never will, I can’t. I remember my mom telling me that there was a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass (MSD) but it didn’t completely register in my head until I was sitting in a Pasquales with my friends, watching the tv screen as a list of names started popping up: Gina Montalto, Jaime Guttenberg, Nicholas Dworet… the list goes on and on. I didn’t know any of the people who died, but I knew people who did and looking at the agony on their faces, I knew that the world had to change.

Guns have become an increasing issue within the US and although the fight against them has gained much support, almost no one with power has done anything to make a change. So the question arises, why haven’t they? 

“Guns aren’t the problem,” said Pete Sessions, “sick people are.”

 I hear this and I think, “Blame a person, it’s fair they did it, but why on earth allow others who are just as sick in the head the same access?” The US is the world’s leading country in mass shootings being responsible for 73% of mass shootings across the world. Now within the country, guns have become the leading cause of death with the article Children and teens are more likely to die by guns than anything else stating that, “Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year (2020).” 

The MSD shooting, which would go on to be one of the top 10 deadliest mass shootings within the US, resulted in the death of 17 people and injuries in 17 others. After this tragedy, people began to start protests which grew into the March for Our Lives which was established in 2018.

I believe that it’s important to recognize the impact that gun violence has had on millions of kids living within the US. Guns don’t help us in any way so what is the point in keeping them around? People may argue that we have the right to bear arms, we shouldn’t have our guns taken away from us, okay well then don’t. Switzerland has one of the lowest gun-related crime rates within the world and they do own their own guns, the difference is they have laws which put the people’s safety first. “Not only are you supposed to be criminal record-free in order to get a gun, but you must also be deemed unlikely to cause harm to other Swiss,”states the article Why Gun Ownership in Switzerland is Not the Same in the US.

People are scared of what lives around their corners, but the government hasn’t shown any interest in our fears. Why do we have to suffer the consequences of a government unable to put its people first? Guns need to be outlawed or at least limited I mean, what use is the idea of an American dream if we’re too dead to live it out.