WHO AM I?

class. In other words, I expected yearbook to come with ease. I was beyond wrong. There are so many components that go into yearbook that I failed to even think about beforehand; interviewing, talking to people you don’t know, working in groups, managing tight deadlines, et cetera: all things that I was completely awful at doing. I have always been super shy, I didn’t work in groups well, and I was (and still am) the worst procrastinator on this planet. So since I wasn’t good at these things and I was pushed out of my comfort zone, my natural instinct was to hate yearbook. I was so focused on my disliking towards yearbook for the first few deadlines that I failed to see this amazing team and book building around me.

Not until around the time when the new editors for next year were announced did I begin to understand and appreciate yearbook for what it is: amazing. I realized that throughout the year I began to come out of my shell, was able to talk to people without getting too nervous, and I started really getting the hang of journalistic writing. Although I had this realization, I still did not love the class. Despite all the progress I had made, I could easily say that yearbook was still my hardest class at the time.

Later on after the school year ended, I attended a workshop in Chicago that aimed at building my photography skills. This would help me fill my future position of Photo Quality Editor with ease, because nothing sounded more like music to my ears than something being easy. One of the days that I was at this workshop around dusk, my teacher, a couple classmates, and I were shooting down under a bridge, working with flashes. As I stood there, taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells of the city, all of the walls that I had built up around myself came crashing down. As random people passed me and my group, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know more about the people walked by, what they were like, what their story was. I wanted to know how out of all places in this world, how they winded up in the heart of Chicago. I wanted to explore the world and learn about all the people in it, and how their minds worked and what they were like. I became curious. After I got home from the trip, I began to use my camera daily. You would never catch me without it. My friends got annoyed at how much I asked if I could take their picture. I found a desire to want to know more about the world. Using a camera is like putting on glasses, the kind of glasses that help you see the world better. Everything isn’t so blurry anymore. People are interesting, life has boundless opportunities, and you never stop learning about how the world works. My camera gave me a new pair of glasses, and once I realized that, I was struck with the curiosity to know more about people, to know their story. Now that I have my glasses, my vision isn’t as bad.