I have had the honor of serving three years on the Trail staff, and I cannot even begin to describe the ways it has impacted me, so I will just start from how I ended up on the Trail. 

I am a very cautious person. I am quiet. And I was comfortable with sitting in the margins, with just going through the motions and not allowing myself to get too comfy because things always changed, and to protect myself from feeling hurt by the change, I made sure that I expected them. 

Moving back to Fayette county was no different. I had three years of school left and was planning on laying low, staying on the sidelines and skating by until the next big change in my life rolls over.

That didn’t happen. 

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“You’re taking guitar and Spanish. What do you want your third elective to be?” I remember my then-counselor asking. 

“My third?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I was unaware of the fact that there were three elective slots, and was suddenly overwhelmed with choice. 

And before I could even respond, my mother was the one who told the counselor: “Well, she really likes to write.” 

“Okay, so journalism,” she promptly suggested.

I hesitated and then gave up because I didn’t have any other ideas. I just expected another English class. After my appointment with my counselor, I remember complaining to my mom: “I don’t want to have to be told what to write.” 

————

Writing was the only constant I had in my life–the only thing that I had control over. When I wrote stories, they were mine and no one else’s. I believed that journalism was going to take that away and restrict my creative liberty. 

I’ll go ahead and unabashedly say that I was wrong. 

When I actually started at McIntosh sophomore year, I remember struggling a lot with loneliness. Even when I wasn’t physically alone, I never felt like I had people who would’ve willingly included me in group activities. The adjustment was really hard for me. I remember crying after school sometimes because I had no friends. The best way I knew how to cope was to keep myself busy, and so I kept my head down and worked really hard my first year on the Trail staff. The editors were kind to me, and I sometimes joined in group conversations, but I still assumed that I was just someone who was “there,” another staff writer, another body in the room. 

That feeling began to erode, especially toward the end of my sophomore year. At this point, I’d grown to love the Trail. I loved that it was nothing at all like what I expected. I learned what real journalism was and I learned basic media literacy skills (that, I think everyone could benefit from).

My first time attending the Georgia Scholastic Press Association (GSPA) spring convention was the confidence boost I needed to really start venturing outside of my comfort zone. I was awarded a “superior” rating for a few of my articles, which essentially meant that someone thought my article was good enough to serve as an example of quality reporting in the state of Georgia, and that felt pretty good. In fact, it cemented something in me. 

It wasn’t the accolade–not really. It was more about the feeling of having something that you’re passionate about recognized as more than “just okay.” To me, it was confirmation that I was heading in the right direction. 

I won’t go through every event I’ve attended with the Trail (otherwise you’d be reading a novel), but I will highlight the moments that stood out to me. At the tail end of my sophomore year, for the first time in what felt like forever, I had something to look forward to because I would be walking back into that classroom–not as the new staffer who didn’t have any place in this school, but as the next year’s news editor.

And I really didn’t know what it was I agreed to (in the best way imaginable.)

So junior year rolled around and I won’t lie: it was weird at first because I didn’t really know anyone. I mean, I talked to them and I was in the same room with them for a whole school year, but they still felt very much like strangers. Editor-in-Chief Grace Lovejoy was someone I was excited to work with because I’d seen her around in the newsroom sophomore year, and part of me really wanted to get to know her–I felt like we had a lot in common–but I also felt like we were in different orbits (wonders of being the new kid.) But now that we had to work together, I was going to make the most out of the opportunity to get to know not only Grace, but other new members of the editorial board. 

I actually became closer friends with Yasemin first. I remember she asked to hang out, which surprised me because the invitation felt so out of left field, but definitely not unwelcome. Little did I know, Yasemin Kalpakci had also moved here from another state. She understood the universal experience of being the new kid and having to start all over and having to eat lunch alone. All I remember is that we played Minecraft and discovered that we actually had a mutual friend (that’s another story, but the coincidence was scary). 

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that my friend group went from nonexistent to a small group of people who went out every Wednesday and bonded over a shared love of food. And through those connections, I have gotten comfortable with other people as well. 

And to my group of editors especially– Grace, Yasemin, Maddie, River– I’m glad I met you guys.

My journey on the Trail began a few weeks into January of my sophomore year. The semester began with a terrible start. I had picked a bunch of random classes (like a math and guitar class even though both classes were already halfway through.) After failing my math class with a strong 23, a grade I had never in my life been close to getting, and realizing that I had no musical talent, I went to my counselor begging to change classes. 

Thankfully, at the time of my counselors appointment, Ms. Shanon Woolf was also in the counselors office, who is the advisor for the school newspaper and yearbook. My counselor asked her if she would be willing to let me join her class.

I remember Ms. Woolf’s only question was “Do you like to write?”

I hesitantly nodded and just like that my schedule was finally fixed. Of course, having better classes didn’t save me from the hardships of joining a school so late. 

Most days, I never said a word. If I did it was probably a question to a teacher. Though that didn’t mean I never wanted to talk to others. Lunch was the hardest time for me. It felt like at least in a classroom I had a place to sit and a teacher I could rely on to at least talk to. I remember sitting by a group of girls in the cafeteria, itching to join their conversation but feeling too scared to. So I did what I do best and I wrote a story about my experience. I think it was this story that made Ms. Woolf realize I didn’t really have anyone to talk to. I can’t remember today if it was me or her that asked if I could sit in her Yearbook class during lunch but either way I began sitting in her class. 

I think after a few weeks of spending my lunch in there, a group of kids asked me to join them in playing a game but I felt too nervous to join so I rejected their offer. I remember regretting that “no” after a few days but I didn’t want them to think I was weird so I never asked.

Months went by and I found a couple of people who didn’t mind talking to me in class but I was still fairly silent throughout the days.

By the time it reached the end of the year, I felt too awkward having lunch in yearbook, especially with it being distribution week so I decided to skip the whole lunch ordeal. I would go to the English hallway bathroom (which always remained empty during my lunch) and stay in a stall until lunch was over by chewing gum and listening to music.

I still feel sad when I think about those times. How scared I was to talk to people. How weird I felt having no friends. 

But I guess I didn’t suck too bad at writing because I was asked to become the Features editor of the Trail by the end of the year. I had zero idea what the job entailed and if I’m quite honest, I didn’t really think it was too special either. (All I knew how to do was write.).

I started off my junior year pretty uninspired. I was stuck at home all summer long except for my family vacation and I had no friends in any of my new classes. However, somehow I began to open up. Between the fresh start to a new school year and the icebreakers my teachers forced me into I gradually started making friends. 

Though, I don’t think I really made best friends until NSPA of that year. It was me, Grace and Nyla sharing one room on the trip. They say you never really know someone until you share a room with them, and it’s true. The trip turned out to be so fun yet tiring that by the last day we bonded over our mutual exhaustion (and a few tears.).

I also became friends with Maddie after what has to be one of the funniest school trips I’ve ever been to at GSPA. 

Most importantly, I also met my bestest friend River through journalism. We met through a mutual friend (AVA!) who had journalism with me and yearbook with River. I couldn’t imagine my life without having met this incredible person.

The Trail didn’t just give me my wonderful group of friends but it also gave me so many skills and a passion for the field of journalism (also my college acceptances.). 

Within a year, becoming an editor had built up so much confidence in me to the point where I can go up to anyone at any time and strike up a conversation with them, a feature that would have killed me to do sophomore year.

I learned that my opinions are worth sharing. Learned the importance of giving a voice to those who don’t have one. Learned that I should always lead with kindness.

Most importantly I hope that in many years from now, Ms. Woolf and the kids staff on the Trail feel that I’ve made an impact on them and they think about me kindly from time to time, the way I do about those who came before me.

To the future of the Trail: Keep going! It can definitely seem hard or stressful at times but with every story you write and with every person you interview you make an impact. 

Anyways, I’ve shed a few (a lot of) tears writing this and reminiscing of my time on staff and I’m certainly nervous for what happens next but I promise the lemonade queen will always remember this little bit of her life with fondness. 

Peace out and stay cool, The Trail’s old features editor <3

Yasemin Kalpakci

I joined the journalism club in sixth grade, and I immediately fell in love. The inner workings of a newsroom, the cameras, the pitch ideas on the whiteboard, it felt like the place to be. I didn’t publish much during middle school, but I learned the basics of a story and how to take a good photo, which were really the only tools I needed. I told my adviser that I was very interested in journalism, and I wanted to continue it in high school. She advised me to fill out an application for the McIntosh Trail. 

I worked as hard as I could my freshman year to publish my best content from covering the Peachtree City Walmart fire, to recapping the Ticketmaster “saga” of the Taylor Swift eras Tour. Later in the year, I was invited to attend the opening of the FunSpot Aireforce One rollercoaster as a part of the media team. It was my very first reporting on the spot experience and I like to think of this as the moment when I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. 

My adviser handed me the pitch of golf cart safety for teenagers in Peachtree City. At the time, I didn’t know if I was ready to take on such a big story, but I took a leap of faith. I spent five months researching, speaking to students and a local insurance firm about golf carts. The story ended up winning the Trail’s very first Best of SNO award. I wasn’t expecting any of this at all. I was honestly just proud of this piece because it was a topic I found really interesting with the amount of stories I heard about golf cart accidents. I knew this was an award that the Trail had been trying to get for a moment and I was proud to be the story to get it. 

Sophomore year I served as the Features Editor and I was the only underclassman on the editorial board. It was definitely overwhelming at first because I was so new to editing and I was still trying to figure most of it out. But I had an amazing mentor. Former Trail Editor-in-Chief, Rebekah Bushmire, took me under her wing and showed me everything there is to know about being a good leader. Bekah was not only my Editor but she was a friend, she was someone I could always call in any situation, and that stays true till this day. 

Junior year, I became the Editor-in-Chief and let’s just say I was still very much an introvert. Speaking in front of the class and walking up to staff, asking if their rough drafts were complete genuinely made me want to cry. It took some getting used to to be the one in charge. But being in this role really helped me come out of my shell and be more confident in myself. 

The first year of being the Editor was the hardest year of my high school career. But I wouldn’t change anything, every moment, every story, every memory counted and gave me knowledge about journalism, myself and the kind of leader I want to be in the future. 

I had also met Nyla, Yasemin, River and Maddie. They were not only my fellow editors but my best friends. Nyla and Yasemin have been nothing less of an honor to work with. Producing this work together has been so much fun, and I hope to be able to be in the same newsroom as them some day. If it wasn’t for journalism, I wouldn’t have met the people I want to spend all my time with. And I’m forever grateful for that. 

Senior year, the Trail moved to a new classroom, and it was a big adjustment for us. In our recording studio and photo lab we moved to rooms with significantly less space than before and I’m not gonna lie, I was nervous about our multimedia content. But, as we always do, we made a plan and yes, we did need to adjust this plan, and a new room I once saw associated with anxiety became the place where the Trail had one of their best years. Our content for the 2025-2026 school year has been the best we’ve published since my freshman year. This is mainly because of the amazing staffers we’ve gained who’ve brought unique ideas, photography and editing skills. 

These are some of the things the Trail has accomplished over the past year:

• The Trail has been named a “SNO Distinguished Site” for the third year in a row. 
• Staff has won numerous Superior and All-Georgia awards at the Georgia Scholastic Press Association fall and spring conferences. 
• Staff attended the National Scholastic Press Association fall conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
• Staff was recognized with honorable mention and a placing story in the National Scholastic Press Association’s Clips and Clicks contest. 
• Staff was recognized for two Best of SNO awards. 

I would also like to mention my amazing adviser, Shannon Woolf. She is not only a teacher but someone I look up to and I can talk to about anything. I truly wouldn’t be the person I am today without her guidance and pushing me to be the best writer I could. Her class has given me a place where I can be myself, learn about what I love most and be with my friends. 

My advice to upcoming leadership, is to live in the moment, some of the best memories in journalism are made with not only the work you are putting out, but the people you are doing it with. The Trail will now and forever be a part of who I am, and the memories I will cherish forever. 

Signing out, 

Editor-in-Chief, Grace Lovejoy.