Introduction to The Woodson Word

Blogging is a great chance for kids like me to write out my thoughts, usually in short pithy posts. And hope that at least one person will read what I write. This blog is meant to inform the local public about happenings at W. T. Woodson High School, events and such that people might not necessarily know about Woodson unless they have a kid who goes to school there.
 
To start my blog, I will give a little background about how this blog came to be written by me. I always knew that my career would be as a writer. I started out hoping that I would be an author; I loved to read as a child (and still do) and read pretty much anything I could get my hands on. But my aspirations to be an author all changed when I hit seventh grade. I took a class called journalism, where I would work on the middle school newspaper.
 
I learned a new way to write, in journalism. Structured articles with a lead, body and conclusion. It might not sound different than any essays I would write for school, but to me it was a totally different way to look at writing. I wrote articles about the school cafeteria, friending people on Myspace, reviews on American Idol and other stories fit for a middle school newspaper.
 
After being on the school newspaper for a year, I was promoted to an editor position. It was more of a title than an actual job, but I loved it. I soon developed a theory that I wanted to be editor in chief of my favorite magazine for girls, Seventeen. However, it would be many years before I could even look for a real writing job, so I decided that my short term goal would be to join the high school newspaper and become the editor in chief senior year.
 
Freshman year you couldn't be on the paper, but you could take the class journalism one. So I signed up for J1 hoping that it would be everything (except writing for the newspaper) that I dreamed of. Fortunately for me, most of the activities we did were similar to my journalism classes in middle school. Finally I was chosen to write an article for the Woodson paper, The Cavalcade. I took my job very seriously, an article on weird news around the world.
 
My first article published in The Cavalcade was a success. I did well on my assignment and I finally had a byline in the high school paper. By the end of my freshman year, I applied for an editor position. I was signed up as a staff writer, and wrote my first article on the girls' golf team at Woodson. I was excited to be part of the school paper, finally.
 
Sophomore year started well, I worked on writing articles as a staff writer and was asked to be a copy editor. I enjoyed copy editing, as I love editing and giving advice. One day, the editors in chief and feature editor approached me. They wanted to take on a third feature editor and they wanted me. I said yes and was ecstatic. A real editor position that I never would have applied for, was given to me because of my talent. They told me that they knew I was up for the task. And I sure was.
 
I spent the next few months learning the ropes of the feature section and enjoyed laying out stories. I had my first chance to write for the feature section when no one signed up for the story. I knew that writing was my passion as my fingers hit the keys, words forming in my head and making it onto the paper before I could even finish the last sentence. As my sophomore year came to a fold, I had to leave my beloved feature section and let it be someone else's baby. I looked at my junior year editor's application and had to decide what section I could see myself working for. I bit the bullet and applied for editor in chief. I didn't know what my chances were. I chose the school style section, Word to Woodson as a second choice and feature again as my third choice. I ended up as the photography editor.
 
I had the chance the summer before Junior year to write an article for a newspaper in New Jersey, The Cape May Star and Wave.

Writing about the beach came so naturally to me.  I feel at home when I'm in Cape May, unlike in Fairfax. I got another chance to write for the Star and Wave in the summer of 2011.
 
Junior year started and I was not really happy that I was the photography editor. I didn't have a section that I would get to work with and I was sad that I would be taking pictures instead of laying out articles. I still wrote just as much, but I wasn't as involved in the newspaper as I could be. I started working on my own personal writing. I had been working on a beach blog that I mostly updated while I was at the beach. I also started a blog about my experiences with my foster cats and continue the blog today.
 
Today, I am a senior at Woodson. I am the Word to Woodson section editor, which is essentially the Woodson style section. I will keep this blog, The Woodson Word, to update the local community and voice my opinions.