I have spent the past seven years of my educational journey within the confines of the Freedom Area School District. All seven of those years were spent in student journalism, writing for every Freedom Focus Media publication. In my time here, I have had the pleasure of working with so many outstanding designers, photographers and writers. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no environment like that of Room 226, and no work as gratifying as writing for the FHS Press.
I started writing for the Bulldog Barker in sixth grade. My first article — not including quotes — was a whopping 50 words in length and almost entirely consisted of opinions. From there, I continued writing and found myself on a panel interviewing U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb just one short year later. In eighth grade, I served as Editor-in-Chief of the Bulldog Barker, when I was named the 2021 JEA Aspiring Young Journalist — an accolade that helped land me an invite to join Print Media Workshop (PMW) as a freshman. The invitation to be the fourth student to ever tackle PMW as a freshman came with the promise of pizza during late-night edits, and while I can attest that the pizza was far less prevalent than I was initially led to believe it would be, joining PMW was the best decision I have ever made.
Our mission at the FHS Press is to serve our community honestly, fairly and consistently. We stand as the paper of record for our district, covering every sport, school board meeting and day-to-day community life. Journalism is writing with a purpose. It has taught me the power of a well-asked question and, more importantly, the power of listening. PMW forced me to learn journalistic integrity, curiosity and how to handle the pressure of strict deadlines (Mr. Aaron Fitzpatrick might disagree with the last one). Every student who enters Room 226 leaves as a better writer, a sharper editor and a more thoughtful friend — I am no exception.
I don’t think there is any class or any sport that requires more teamwork than PMW. Our 17-person staff wrestles with producing nine monthly 12-page issues of our newspaper — deadlines that completely overlap with the production of our 212-page yearbook, a task that would be impossible without such an incredible team. I’d like to thank all of the editors who made this volume of the FHS Press possible: Caden Beringer, Bryson Deal, Addison Freeman, Audrey Mooney, Elizabeth Mooney, Reese Neely and all of the assistant editors. Thank you to my absolutely wonderful Managing Editor, Calla Reynolds, who is always there to clean up my mistakes, which I know can be a hefty task.
Next, a most special thank-you to my adviser, Mr. Aaron Fitzpatrick — or Fitz, as the cool kids call him. Thank you for being a supportive adviser, a knowledgeable teacher and someone I am proud to call a good friend. I couldn’t have survived high school without you. There are many more thank-yous to go around, but I would need a much higher word count to list them all. It has truly taken a village to make all of these papers possible. Lastly, thank you to all of the readers of the FHS Press. Your readership gives purpose to our writing, a community to write for and lots of stories to tell.
There are simply no words to fully describe my experience with student journalism, PMW and all of the people in Room 226. I hope that after I leave, all of our writers continue to chase the truth and find passion in each story they bring to the budget meetings. Though my byline will no longer be found among its pages, and my name will no longer live in its staff box, I am confident that the FHS Press will continue to be a gold standard of high school journalism. It’s a privilege to see that the dorky — some say cult-like — culture will live on in Room 226. I have a very good feeling that there are a lot of memories still left to be made and a lot of stories left to tell. Thank you again to everyone who played a hand in my journey. It has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will absolutely never forget.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Christopher Denkovich (12) said.