As I wrap up my time on Chronicle staff, I’ve been thinking of all the work we’ve done to curate a higher quality, aiming to build our readership and firm up our brand.
We’re not even three years old, so we’ve studied websites of other APS newspapers: Yorktown’s Sentry, Wakefield’s Chieftain, and Washington-Liberty’s Crossed Sabres. This exercise, without a doubt, gave us inspiration for the kinds of articles we might want to write, or different ways in which to organize our website, it also gave us the idea that we needed to conform to a standard that these decades-old newspapers were able to achieve. But in my last days with the Chronicle, I prefer to spend less time thinking about other papers and more time leaning into the beauty and uniqueness of our own.
If you know me personally, you know that I have an interest in philosophy. The two most important ideas I’ve adopted are that intentions matter and being satisfied with what you have is important. These thoughts alongside my beliefs about conformity are what has culminated to form my own philosophy.
I believe nonconformity is the truest form of beauty.
The Chronicle’s advancement is the perfect example of my thoughts and I wish more than anything that it continues to strive to improve while preserving its truly unique aspects.
As my time in high school comes to a close, it can be hard to avoid thinking about how much I’ve missed out on and what I wish I did in the time I had. Reframing my perspective really helped.
To close, this all makes me feel like I’m writing my story, rather than following what I thought I was supposed to do. Changing my perspective on how I view my high school experience has made me smile a little bit more instead of moping about the fact that other people’s stories were cooler or more fun than mine.
Witnessing the unique aspects of ACC come alive in our paper has been nothing but incredible. The ACC Chronicle has grown an astronomical amount since we founded it just two and a half years ago. Our aspirations will continue to reach higher–not because of how other school newspapers–because of our will to become the best versions of ourselves.
With this, I’ll wave good-bye to the newspaper I love the most and walk proudly into a world where I’ll continue to hold my philosophy close to me. Remember to be authentically yourself, don’t conform to others’ standards, and follow your own path.
Stay whimsical, ACC Chronicle.
