My advice: try new things.
When I decided to come to LASA, I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was done playing it safe. To my surprise, the first thing I decided to try was Colorguard during my first semester of freshman year. More shockingly, I decided to join the school newspaper my second semester.
First semester, I had Ezine with Mr. Garcia. I enjoyed it because I discovered that I liked interviewing people and getting to know more about them through discussion of their passions. I found it inspiring to share other people’s stories with the world and provide readers with information on countless topics of interest they could choose. However, after learning more about the school’s newspaper, I learned that I wouldn’t be able to do exactly what I wanted, which was to write about different people and what they contribute to the world. Nevertheless, I did value the newspaper’s mission to provide accurate information to LASA’s community of students, teachers, and staff and bestow a space for students to voice their opinions and concerns about current events. I admired its mission, so I decided to contribute to the LASA Liberator in any way I could.
At first, I was nervous because I didn’t know in what ways I could contribute to the newspaper. I was not an avid writer or photographer, but I was eager to try something new and willing to learn. I decided to pursue an interest of mine, which was graphic design. There was an opening at the time, and I became one of the graphics editors. Before joining the newspaper, I had never used Adobe Illustrator to create graphics, nor was I particularly skilled in drawing. However, like many individuals around the world, I learned on the job. It was a process to learn how to maneuver the intricacies of Illustrator without breaking my wrist or having to manually color in an object for five minutes straight because I couldn’t combine two shapes into one, but I found it worth it in the end. Despite my struggles, my community of editors were always there to encourage and support me. They acknowledged the amount of work and effort I was putting into becoming a better graphics editor and told me to be proud of myself for the progress I was accomplishing. Over time, my graphics improved, and even though I wasn’t a master at it, I had learned a new skill. I was content at being able to effectively communicate an article’s message through beautiful graphics.
Although my time as a graphics editor was short, I moved on to fulfill another role with the same intent of contributing to the newspaper in my own way and trying something new. I end my senior year as the finance editor who has learned how to confidently contact businesses through phone calls and innovated new methods to raise funds. I am grateful for everything I have learned and experienced being in the LASA Liberator, along with the community of friends I have gained.
My advice to the following generations of LASA students is to try new and unexpected things because you never know what experiences you might gain along the way.
