It is exciting when teachers can observe a student, during their high school years, already involved in their future pursuits. Many students pursue opportunities that will give them exposure to their future dreams, but Anya has been with us these four years as an already-published writer who had oodles of her already-developed talent to share. Consequently, South High now has our amazing literary publication, The Apricot Journal, and she has helped breathe life into The Colonel Chronicle. According to Ms. Eressy, one of the advisors for the Apricot Journal, Anya has been a phenomenal writer and leader who will be missed, but both publications are better for having had her leadership!
One of the most impressive things about Anya’s tenure as Co-Editor in Chief for the Chronicle is the sheer amount of contribution that she made to the paper, both in a leadership role and as a writer. Despite a heavy load of AP classes, athletic commitments, professional writing internships and more, Anya attended our Chronicle meetings weekly. She was a steady presence to help with selecting articles, editing, and planning. Yet there was rarely a week that the Chronicle did not feature a piece by Anya. She considered her work with the newspaper to be important, and she always took time to brainstorm and edit her articles so that they affect the students and faculty reading them.
Anya would put work in just thinking about an article – she was so good at taking an idea for an article, looking at it from different angles, and then going forward with a plan that she was always open to revising. She taught our staff the depth of journalistic work – how in order to create those polished articles on the website, there is heart and soul that goes into producing the content.
For sure some of her readers’ favorite work were the articles that reported on current issues at South. Wondering why the building was freezing for two weeks in October? Anya did the investigation to find out why, interviewing our custodians and publishing an article. From issues of overpopulation to the experience of immigrant students, to my personal favorite article – a look at a very “South” tradition of dropping teacher’s last names – her reporting was informative and meaningful to the South community.
Moreover, her reporting on South High always was done with a keen eye to the way that our school houses tradition and diversity. Anya’s articles were always thoughtfully constructed with attention to the fact that our community shares a school, but also that our students have so many unique backgrounds. As much as she expressed her own identity and perspective through her articles, she invited the same from other students. Along with Jason, Anya made it a goal to bring in as many student voices and experiences as possible.
Something special that Anya brought to our newspaper was her professionalism. She brought in her knowledge with from her own publishing experiences, and set a tone that I believe will continue to exist in the Chronicle’s future. Anya’s leadership helped us set goals, create routines, and make the most of our professional student newspaper website; her impact will be here for years to come, and we hope that when she is a famous journalist she will maybe consider returning to A147 to visit our weekly meetings.
Beyond all of her contribution to the Chronicle, Anya was also simply a joy to have around – her dedication, her thoughtfulness, her talent – and as much as I will miss her work with Chronicle, I will simply miss having her to talk to about books, current events, potential articles, and especially all of the conversations about article drafts that turned into meditations on life and society. Best wishes in the future, Anya, from myself and the Chronicle staff!
