Letting it all out

I lied! In my previous column I mistakenly said that it would be my last. A few circumstances changed and I ended up having one last chance to release my final thoughts.

    There are so many topics that I can use this space to talk about, but there is one thing that is deeply troubling me.

    Upon receiving a letter to join National Honors Society I was thrilled. I think NHS is a great organization and I readily applied for it. I made sure my grades were in order and recieved a ltetter of recomendation from a community member. All seemed well.

    After waiting two weeks, I got the response. Sadly, I was declined as a member of NHS. I will admit I was a little upset that I didn't make the cut, but what surprised me was the reason for being declined.

    The letter mentioned that I displayed "strong leadership skills" and character, but my grade point average was on the "cusp" of not being eligible. To me, this didn't make any sense. My grade had dropped temporarily from missing a few days of class for a Circle of Friends field trip, but nothing major changed. In fact, in a few days I had finished most of the makeup work and my grades were back to normal.

    I then decided it would be best to bring up my concerns with the coordinator of NHS, Jaimie Klem. After asking her a few questions, I finally got to the bottom of why I wasn' accepted. Kelm mentioned my grades and something else that completely shocked me. I was told that another "issue" was my editorials in the Crier. Suposedly, my editorials were too negative and that I should write more "positive and upbuilding things."

    I was shocked that my opinion articles had anything at all to do with me being declined to join NHS.

    I understand that a club has the right to be selective, but declining a student based upon a newspaper opinion article seems a little discriminatory.

    I have reasons as to why I pick certain topics for my editorials. The saying, "if it bleeds it leads," is a saying in the journalism world meaning that the worst possible stories get the lead spot, incorporating excitement into the newspaper.

    I feel that I have done a decent job at making the newspaper more exciting to read. If nothing else, I have made it so that every administration memeber at El Dorado High School reads the opinion page (more specifically the "Inside My Head" column) of every issue.

    I am looking forward to next year with much optimism. With a new principal, newspaper teacher and newspaper staff, I am confident that the Crier will be a better quality student newspaper. We've been throught the best and worst of journalism. I am glad that we all survived a year of each other (and that they managed to survive my "editor dictatorship"  on deadline days as they like to call it).

    I will miss our current newspaper teacher, Whitney Deal. I've learned so much form being enrolled in her classes. We've been through meetings with the principals and "vicious" telephone calls from upset Department of Agriculture secretaries together. It's a shame she won't be here next year.

    My sophomore year has been full of fun and I am excited to begin my junior year at EHS. I am even more excited though, that I have survived (without and serious physical injuries) my last year of P.E.!