My four years at Walt Whitman High School have certainly been a wild ride. Yet, it’s time for me to say goodbye as I will be shortly graduating this year as a part of the class of 2022. It’s crazy that I’m leaving after what has felt like such a short time. 

When I first joined Paw Print in my freshman year, I was incredibly shy, as I was surrounded by far more experienced juniors and seniors that had a much better understanding of the club and even high school as a whole. My advice to new freshmen—whether you’re joining the club or not—is to not be as intimated by the upperclassmen as I was. We may seem like we have our lives situated, but in reality, we have just as many worries as you. Eventually, with the help of my friends in Paw Print, I overcame this unease I had when in the club and eagerly wrote articles that were published on the site.

By my sophomore year, I was confident enough to apply for an editor position, and to my surprise, I actually got it. I became the editor of articles centered around technology and entertainment, as those were my personal favorite types of articles to write. The great thing at Paw Print is that you aren’t limited to just discussing school events—you can branch out and write about nearly anything so long as you can tie it back into the school by getting the opinions of your peers on the topic. So, I often wrote articles about video games, movies, and anything else that I was personally interested in. Yet, that same year is when COVID-19 struck and schools closed, so my experience as a section editor was cut short.

Paw Print’s previous editor-in-chief graduated that year as well, as did many other club members, which left me as the most experienced club member who was willing to take on a leadership role. So, despite the fact that I had applied for a section editor position again, in my junior year, I was unexpectedly made editor-in-chief by default! My junior year was the hybrid-virtual year so our meetings became all virtual, and as a result, it became much harder for the club’s members to bond and connect with each other. Yet, we persisted, and we managed to put together several issues by the end of the year.

That brings us to the current school year—my senior year. I am once again the editor-in-chief and the club’s future looks promising. The situation was a little frightening at the beginning of the year, as most members were seniors and thus would be saying goodbye to the club at the year’s end, but we were able to recruit quite a few interested underclassmen and juniors. That being said, we still would like several more members to guarantee Paw Print’s prosperity, so if you’re a student of Walt Whitman High School and you’re interested in writing, feel free to email our advisors, Ms. Kaufman and Ms. Roiland, or to come to room 206 for our biweekly meetings!

And so, this just about brings my adventure at Whitman and as a member of Paw Print to a close. I look forward to what the future holds for me yet I will forever cherish the memories and friendships I made at this club, while knowing it’s in good hands.