Rebekah Bushmire is the two year editor-in-chief of the Trail and also a part of the McIntosh Legend. Under her guidance during her Senior year the Trail has won SNO Distinguished Site, GSPA awards from All-Georgia and Superior categories, Best of SNO awards, and published the “Back to Mac” magazine.

Bushmire’s personal accomplishments include being the Public Communications Intern with the City of Peachtree City, representing Georgia nationally for two years in a row as a Student Press Law Center New Voices Student Representative, serving two years as a Georgia Scholastic Press Association Student Ambassador, teaching two Georgia Scholastic Press Association’s journalism workshops, winning multiple All-Georgia and Superior awards for her writing, photography and social media reporting, winning the Principal’s Award at senior honors night, and representing McIntosh on the Superintendent Student Advisory Council.

Q: What was your contribution to McIntosh High School? 

A: “My contribution to McIntosh is the outreach of our newspaper. My relationship with the administration, local municipality leaders and national connections have allowed our program to get the recognition they deserve. I think I have expanded the capabilities of our staff and offered more opportunities for our staff to win awards and truly showcase their talents.”

Q: How have you made the Trail a better program? What was your contribution?

A: “I believe I have made the Trail a better program due to my commitment to the staff and the program. I worked hard to build up our SNO Badges and our site in order to consistently win awards throughout the years and become more well known for our journalism and talents. I believe that without my guidance, most of the badges wouldn’t have been awarded to us and I will always be proud, and a little self-centered, in believing I had a big helping hand in achieving the status we currently have.”

Q: What college do you plan on attending, and what will your major studies be?
A: “I plan on attending the University of West Georgia for a major in Mass Communications.”

Q: What is your favorite memory from your years on the Trail staff?
A: “My favorite memory is probably a recent one: the senior party! It was so heartwarming to see rookies stand up and speak out to their mentors in the class and see just how much this staff has connected over the year. At first, none of the rookies are outspoken and fearless but as the year has gone by, I have been able to see each of them grow and hearing them speak loud and proud in honoring the seniors that are leaving them. I’m not ashamed to say I shed tears at Grace’s speech to me and even more to Ms. Woolf’s speech to me. I’ve never felt more at home than with the Trail staff and they have genuinely become part of me forever.”
Q: What are you proudest of, in your time with the Trail?

A: “I’m most proud of the growth of our program and the growth of the people on staff (Trail). I’ve never been more proud to see the awards that our staffers have received, the change in their writing and the shift in their overall attitudes in reference to journalism and the Trail as a whole. I am also proudest of the SNO badges we have won because the first ever badge was awarded to our staff last year and now we have gotten all of them which is a first in our programs history. I couldn’t be more proud of myself, and the words of the staffers, that we combined to win those badges. I helped make history with earning the first Distinguished Site award the Trail has ever earned.”
What words of wisdom do you have for the upcoming editors and staff?

A: “Keep the personal issues outside of the newsroom. One capability I had was compartmentalization. I knew when to ignore my problems when I entered the newsroom because I’m not just a student in that room, I’m a leader, an editor, and when it comes down to it, you have to do your job and do it well. I get that having personal relationships is important with the staff, but you need to learn when to put on the editor hat and take off the personal life issues hat in order to get work done. Obviously there are exceptions but I genuinely think that one problem we keep seeing in the newsroom is staffers butting heads and then the discord between them relaying into the work they produce. That can be stopped but you have to be mature enough to be willing to compartmentalize your life when you enter into the newsroom.”

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: “I’ll miss the Trail staff so much, and it will always be my home, so whenever they need me, be it for a site question, advice or just catching up, I will always be a simple call, or Slack, away. I’ll always be here for my team, and I will always have their back in both journalism and outside of the newsroom. Thank you to Ms. Woolf for being such a wonderful icon and mentor to me and thank you Trail staff for allowing me to serve as your editor-in-chief. It has been a wild two years, but I wouldn’t have spent them with anyone else. You guys have my heart and always will. Miss you always and forever, and remember, I’m just a small Slack away.”