Goodbye Coronado: Reese Mann

Senior year is supposed to be full of lasts, and while my class didn’t get to experience many of those, I would say my time at Coronado makes up some of the best memories of my life. This school encouraged me to become involved with my community and school clubs, while still allowing me to play volleyball and write for the school newspaper. Freshman year, I never thought I would write for the school newspaper, and now, here I am today, three years later, writing my goodbye letter.

If anyone would have asked me freshman year when I was signing up for classes if I wanted to join newspaper, my answer would have been a strong no. It had nothing to do with the teacher, but everything to do with my lack of confidence as a writer. Then came sophomore year, and I also did not join newspaper, until I was forced to after switching out of another class. To put it simply, my first day was terrifying. My teacher, Mrs. M, made the class sound extremely hard to the point where you could not have an A. This really scared me, so when we were choosing the section we wanted to write for, I decided to choose to be a photographer for the paper because in my mind I figured that would be easier. Turns out everyone else wanted to be a photographer too, so I got bumped to being a writer for the entertainment section. At this point, I wanted to drop the class. My first story was awful, and Mrs. M would agree. I wrote the article just like any English research paper I would have turned in to my teacher. My mom stayed up with me as I tried to perfect my story because I did not want a bad grade. When I got my edits back, I was so embarrassed. The whole story was full of red marks. After a couple more stories, I started to get the hang of it, and they were a breeze. By my second semester of my first year of newspaper, Mrs. M had promoted me to copy editor. This is the time I finally enjoyed writing and editing because I knew that I was finally submitting work that I could be proud of. As copy editor, it was my job to proofread stories for grammar and punctuation errors before they were sent to be printed. I finally felt accomplished.

Since my first year went so well, Mrs. M asked me to be the Lifestyle/Fashion Editor for my junior year. Of course, I said yes, and it was so much fun. Even if I struggled to come up with stories, every once in a while (or maybe even every week), I enjoyed reading what my writers had come up with because not long before that, I was in their shoes. I loved publishing stories every week and hearing people tell me they loved the story. Then came senior year, and I was the editor for the Lifestyle/ Entertainment section. This was my favorite year because I knew so many people in my class and my section. I also enjoyed having the freedom to come up with stories that could fit in either subsection of my section. Senior year was my year. It felt nice to be in charge of a section, so I could make it the way I wanted. Mrs. M was also super lenient, since I usually forgot to turn in my stories on time, because she knew I would eventually get it done.

Newspaper taught me more than just how to write a newspaper article. It helped me become more involved on campus and branch out from under my shell. If you ask Mrs. M, you would know how shy I was when I first joined her class. Mrs. M was one of my biggest supporters. She went to every home volleyball game (even though, as cheerleading coach, she had to) and cheered louder than anyone in the stands. I will forever be grateful for Mrs. M and newspaper for showing me how to branch out and create relationships with everyone I meet. I also want to thank her for letting me call her Mrs. M, even though she got married and changed her name. This is going to be the last story I ever write, probably even in college, so I wanted to say thank you to newspaper and everyone who was a part of the journey I never thought I would go on. It was a memorable and special three years that I wouldn’t trade for anything.