Three years ago, I was just another shy girl who moved to FHS. I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to make friends, especially in a school known for its tractor parade and high percentage of people related to one another. I didn’t grow up here all my life, my ancestors haven’t farmed in New Sewickley for generations and the thought of not being welcomed in my new community made me nervous.

This was not the case however, and after my first halftime performance I became known as the “fire girl.” Baton twirling has been a huge part of my life and the reputation for twirling fire has definitely stuck over the course of the past few years. However, I also became known for something new.

My junior year I decided to take the Print media workshop class. Many of my friends from band recommended the class and the teacher, Mr. Aaron Fitzpatrick, who teaches the FHS PMW class. I have always been interested in journalism, but through some miraculous twist of fate, I ended up becoming the managing editor for the FHS shawnee yearbook during my junior year and focused more on the yearbook side of Print Media, rather than the newspaper end of class. Under the direction of Fitzpatrick and former Editor-in-Chief, Lauren Dubovi, I began to spread my little photography wings and fell in love with photography and all things yearbook.

The print media class isn’t for everyone. It is however, made up of some extremely talented, hard working and dedicated students who put more time into this class than all their other classes combined. While the class sounds a little intimidating it’s by far my favorite class I have ever taken. The satisfaction and pride that comes with seeing your name in the byline of an article or experiencing the reactions of people with their new yearbook is truly an amazing feeling.

Over the summer, Fitzpatrick, current managing editor Junior Dereck Majors, and myself spent a week at Gettysburg college and attended yearbook camp. At this camp, we learned so many new design and yearbook tips that we choose to bring back to Freedom. This meant a lot of changes from the previous yearbooks. The biggest change in our 2015 yearbook was determining a consistent theme throughout the entire book.

FHS is a small community with less than 500 students. Despite this, the FHS has more technology available to the students than almost any other school district in Beaver county. This technology and the amount of students who are involved in multiple activities sparked the idea for the 2014-2015 yearbook theme. I determined that what made FHS so special from other schools was the amount of connections both technologically and personally that can be found around FHS. Hence the “Get Connected” theme was born.

While the transition to a new style of yearbook was a little rough at times, the end product turned out better than I could have ever dreamed. I’m incredibly thankful for the photoshop skills of Michael Fricke and Grace Hutchison along with the rest of the print media staff. Many members of the print media staff went above and beyond by staying at school with Fitzpatrick and I for hours on end. I would especially like to thank Seniors Emily Allego, Jamie Croll and Raylen Welling for helping to keep me sane amongst the all the craziness of yearbook deadlines.

Print media has given me a creative outlet to share what is important to me with my classmates and community. This past year has been incredibly stressful balancing advanced classes, yearbook deadlines and all my other activities. There have been numerous days where I came to school at 7am and not leave until 10 p.m. I’ve attended hundreds of sporting events and while I cannot claim to be the least bit athletic, I’ve become a huge supporter of all FHS athletic teams. From a spectator’s point of view, seeing how hard these athletes work in a game or match is one thing. Taking a picture and capturing the determination and willpower these athletes display, despite whatever the scoreboard may read, is completely different though. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to capture these special moments on film and display my pictures for all to see.

Without the amazing students and staff at FHS I would never have had the opportunity to find my love of photography and journalism. Thank you to my family and friends for putting up with my stress this past year and supporting me every step of the way. I would also like to thank the entire student body and Freedom community for welcoming my family and I over the past 3 years. A big thank you to everyone who has kept me company and let me interview them during the events I’ve reported on. Most importantly I would like to thank Fitzpatrick for being so incredibly dedicated to Print media and for all he does to help his students and the PMW publications succeed. I can’t explain the amount of days I would come in stressed, and the relief I would feel when Fitzpatrick said to not worry because he had a plan. Without his support, motivation, knowledge and time, the FHS press and Shawnee yearbook couldn’t possibly be as high of quality.

Good Luck to Dereck Majors, Grace Hutchison and the rest of the Print media staff next year. I’m so happy I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with you these past 2 years and I can’t wait to see what you guys accomplish in the upcoming years.