Yes, it is about time, isn’t it? School is finally over! Before we rejoice on the upcoming summer vacation, let us reflect on the great year the journalism staff has had.

It started off first semester with the ever-so-funny Mark Vandenberg, the quiet and tired Jim Liddy, and of course, the loud leader Cassie Bohn.

Along with me, we comprised the fantastic four and we took on the weekly challenge of keeping the Tritonian hip, happening, and fun to read for all ages.

There in the corner sat Liddy, who was determined to write only one story a week just as last year’s journalism classes did. When he wasn’t fighting Mrs. Thillman on the issue, he kept to himself or slept most of the time.

Next there was Vandenberg who had entered into his third year of journalism. He kept the crowd entertained with his different array of noises and assortment of songs that he would play from his phone. His outgoing and hilarious personality kept us all smiling, even when we really needed to buckle down and complete our work by our Friday deadline.

Then there was Bohn. Bohn is a determined girl that is not afraid to let people know what is on her mind. She has always been the leader of the journalism class in laying out the papers and instructing others on what needs to be done. She tells it how it is and that is that. No questions asked.

Sadly the fantastic four split up as the second semester rounded the corner. Vandenberg and Liddy left the class in pursuit of other things. However, those losses were quickly made up for with four new members of the journalism staff.

This staff gained Brazilian native Pedro Pizarro, sophomore Blaine Schmid, junior Kaitlin Kumbalek, and senior best friends Anne Marie McKenzie and Margaret Faller. And they seemed to enter into the swing of things with no problem. Right off the bat, Mrs. Thillman assigned two stories for the week, that each of them took on right at once.

Pizarro kept to himself and hardly said a word.  He took a number of lengthy vacations to Hawaii and Washington D.C., but always seemed to whip out his articles featuring different cultures and countries, and adding an international flare to the Tritonian.

Schmid, our little sophomore, mingled with Bohn as they “worked” on their stories and discussed the latest basketball and school issues. Schmid probably would have been better served not hanging with a second semester senior, as she got to thinking that she was the one who could partake in the senior slide. Regardless, she was awesome to have as part of the staff.

And then there was Kumbalek. Her independent mind allowed her to come up with her own ideas on articles to write each week. She picked several interesting topics, from Kony2012 to bed bugs to even movie reviews. She never just stuck with the same old topics that we discussed every Monday in our story assignment “brainstorming” sessions. She earned eight “national” awards that featured her articles  on a nationwide online newspaper, making it even harder for the rest of us to top her.

Seniors McKenzie and Faller were fabulous additions to our staff. Both of these girls kept up on their articles while still managing to look for prom dresses online during prom season. Their upbeat personalities made everyone happy to have them in class! I think I can speak for all of us when I say we were all really happy that they were a part of our class this year.

And of course we could not have done it without Mrs. Jean Thillman and her co-pilot, Mrs. Carolyn Brown. These two teachers have been with us since the beginning… suggesting and reading stories, editing articles and layouts, understanding when we failed to get an article in on time and still giving us a chance to make it up. They made our class fun with all the different stories and jokes, and every once in a while Mrs. Brown would surprise us with some of her famous brownies or cookies.

This was a really successful year in journalism. In total, the staff has racked up 31 national awards, written and designed four printed papers, countless news flyers, and over 310 articles for our online edition.

Thanks to everyone for making journalism what it was. Good luck to next year’s staff. I am already looking forward to working with you….