Addisyn Madeen
In the middle of the first semester of my freshman year, the editor-in-chief of the Saint Maur Newspaper/Magazine club asked “Have you seen-.” She sees whoever she’s asking for over my shoulder. “Ugh, she never shows up to the meetings for the paper, do you want to join and write instead of her?” As a freshman taught to respect high school hierarchy, this junior talking to me was very frightening. I was highly unprepared but admittedly, also quite pleased that she would ask me to join the school paper.
“Um, okay, but what would I be required to do?…” Yes, my question drifted off into the silence very dramatically because I was timid, and talking to anyone outside my close group of friends terrified me. She told me I could write about anything I wanted and whenever I wanted, I just needed to submit one article every two weeks and come to meetings whenever she asked me to, they were always hosted on Mondays though. I agreed.
On the following Monday, I stumbled into the Mac Lab and stopped a couple of steps in. The room had a few seniors, a handful of juniors, a trickle of sophomores, and lucky for me, no freshmen. Everyone looked up as I banged into the closest table and dropped the notebook and pens I was holding. Everyone else had a laptop and I berated myself for always choosing to write “old-school”. I debated leaving but then someone closed the door and ushered me into the closest open seat. I sat alone while everyone else was with their friends and classmates. They all tried to smile nicely but also teased me for being the only freshie.
After that meeting, I was hit by a spark of inspiration and started my article:
THE STORY BEHIND THE GIANT BEAR by Addisyn Chen Madeen.
Not many read it because the paper still wasn’t a well-known addition to the school website yet.
Over the years, I stopped being the only person from my grade in that room. I stopped writing in my notebook and started typing all of my articles as transcribing my work became tiring. I started to write articles that held more mainstream importance such as books, feminism, and the occasional fluff piece. Again, barely anyone read it because barely anyone knew there was anything to read.
Then, I became the editor-in-chief and I decided it was time to change how the paper was labeled as a magazine on the school website. A magazine?! The gall.
During one of the first days of our current school year, I ran outside of my classroom and chased after Mr. Feezell and breathlessly asked him to be the new supervisor of the newspaper. To this day, I am forever grateful for how he agreed and that Thursday the first meeting was held. He created a google classroom, came up with ideas for categories, and provoked the discussion for a title of our revamp of the school paper, (“The Maurdian” was picked). As the club was changed slightly more and more, for the better and better, the club grew in size and issues were produced every month.
Now, it’s almost time for my successor and I am extremely excited to see what she will produce. Throughout my time in this position, she has been a strong writer, and an excellent editor, and she has picked up the slack I’ve struggled to juggle. Thanks to Emma and Mr. Feezell, there is always an issue.
I am no longer that scared little freshman, I am now a slightly bigger, somewhat scared senior who is extremely proud to have been part of the paper for most of high school. It is one of my greatest achievements because I have always loved writing and this was a creative outlet I always depended on.
Thank you to everyone I’ve worked with over the years and all of our readers, long-term and who decided to just stumble onto this issue. I hope you enjoy all the new issues coming your way.
Addisyn Madeen