How have you made McIntosh a better place, what was your contribution to the campus?
“Physically I don’t know if I have done too much. It’s more like I’ve been here and seen a lot of things that have happened like obviously COVID and my class watched the new building get built. There have just been a lot of changes that have happened during the time that I have been here. Like the entire class layout changed, the only ones who didn’t move was science and then as far as programs go, I think probably the one that I am most proud of is the E-Sports team. Tony Qin and I worked on trying to get the E-Sports team for McIntosh to happen and to be a part of GHSA’s representation at McIntosh. Even though it didn’t pan out, I feel like we actually have a good foothold going into next year and next season.”
How have you made the Trail a better program, what was your contribution to the publication?
“I joined in sophomore year, and basically reworked how the photography worked in the Trail. Not in a literal sense, we had all the cameras to begin with, they belong to the Legend, but our editorial positions didn’t involve a lot of photography. So, I really just added to the role of photography and started teaching people what they could do with photography and doing a lot of editing for that. I feel like that was something that was important that we really needed but didn’t have before I was here.”
What college do you plan on attending?
“Kennesaw State University.”
What will you be studying?
“Journalism and Emerging Media. Just journalism basically, it’s that and new forms of media that people don’t really understand yet.”
If you have plans other than college, what are they?
“Not really as of now. I want to let things play out since I’m not 100% sure about what I want to do.”
What are some words of wisdom that you have for returning staffers or newcomers to the Trail?
Returning staffers: “Don’t put stuff off until the last second. There is a reason that our stress Cheez-Its disappeared so fast. If you have a week to work on a print edition or a story or something, it’s probably not going to pan out. I have seen a lot of things, like for example this year we had our print edition that we worked on in a single week and it had so many errors and we could’ve done so much better with that. I wish we had spent the time earlier on doing that. Another thing, I had a story this year that I got so many interviews for, I did so much research and in the end the timeline didn’t pan out. So, don’t get discouraged but also manage your own time.”
New staffers: “Newcomers? Don’t get overwhelmed. There is a lot of stuff that happens here and if I’m going to be honest it’s kind of like a trial by fire type of deal. I’ve seen a lot of people enter here, not know what’s going on and then get discouraged and leave after a year but I think if you stick with it you’ll understand what’s happening and it is really fun once you do understand what’s going on and everything works.”