Olivia O’Donnell

It’s been a wild and, at times, frustrating ride. As I look back on my four years at Riverside Brookfield High School, and my four years in Clarion, I can safely say that I made the right choice picking Clarion as my designated club and elective.

I got to interview interesting staff and students, tell their stories, and greatly improve my writing skills. This class has helped me to converse more effectively with my peers and teachers, and I have made a couple very good friends in this class. Some of my assignments were easy, and allowed me to enjoy time with my friends; others were more challenging.

Journalism is a competitive sport. Not every article see’s the light of day. Some of the things you think are your best work are met with mediocre acceptance, and some of the things you phoned in are met with high praise. There’s great satisfaction in informing the students things that you think are important, impactful, or just plain fun.

My genre of choice was feature writing, and it was always a joy to look into things I thought needed to be talked about, even if many ideas of mine never went through. The best thing about writing, is having writ. So long, and a special thank you to my longtime friend Alexis Leone, who convinced me to take the class.