Looking back and moving on
Jenna Campbell, fourth from left, is pictured in 2010 on a Flipside field trip with a group of Young Observers. Campbell is graduating from Avella Area Junior/Senior High School.
I have met in the same room of the Observer-Reporter for an hour, three times per month, nine months out of the year, over the course of the last four years. I was just another shy ninth-grader when I first began learning about journalism, and now, I’m an outspoken senior realizing, for the first time, those reading my articles know nothing about the person writing them. So, for my final issue, I am going to break many unwritten rules of journalism and tell readers what it is like being a Young Observer and how it changed my life.
When it was time for my older brother to graduate high school and leave Young Observers, I was just old enough to join. Since my brother was a writer and I wrote, I figured I’d follow his footsteps. I remember the first day I joined Young Observers or “Flipside,” as those in the program often call it after the name of the quarterly magazine. By the time I actually worked up enough courage to go to the Observer-Reporter, I was running late and already missed a few meetings. I entered the building lost, confused and disheveled. When I finally did manage to find my way, I walked into the room, every set of eyes inside our meeting room turned toward me and the guest speaker abruptly stopped midsentence. Despite this embarrassing moment kicking off my Young Observer experience, I came back, and it could very well be one of the best decisions I made in my teenage life.
Over the course of four years, I watched Flipside members leave and new members fill the seats. I experienced the remodeling of the room where the group meets, and I am with my third set of advisers, each group bringing something new to the table. These, however, are just small changes one must learn to live with. The important thing is not how things altered, but rather, what a person gets out of each hour spent at the Observer-Reporter. I know, for me, going to Flipside offers a safe haven. It’s a place for young people of different backgrounds to meet, learn and share without judgement. As a group, Young Observers have fun, get an education and acquire journalistic skills that allow them to express themselves through proper writing and other forms of art. I will admit, I dubbed this group “my newspaper family” because it’s truly what they’ve become. I would never trade the experiences I’ve had or knowledge I’ve gained as a Young Observer for anything. The activities, lessons and people are not the only reason I feel this way.
One thing I have yet to share that I promised I would is how being a Young Observer changed my life. Yes, everything I previously mentioned impacted me greatly and influenced who I am, but this goes beyond that. When I was a freshman in high school, I knew nothing about journalism and never dreamed I would wind up wanting to include it in my future. Soon, I will enter my freshman year at Penn State’s University Park campus with my declared major being journalism. I know for a fact this would not be the case had I never fearfully entered that room four years ago. Flipside helped me grow and discover who I am. I now know I am a person who wants to approach stories without bias and uncover the truth that lies within them. In other words, I want to be an investigative reporter, and being a Young Observer made me confident I will accomplish that goal. So now that I have successfully written a story that may qualify as journalism, but certainly goes against things I was taught at the Observer-Reporter, I suppose it is time to say goodbye to the faithful readers of Flipside. Although this is the end of being a Young Observer, it is only the beginning of the rest of my journalism career, and I have hope my readers will see my writing again in the near or distant future, depending on where life takes me, of course. The point is, don’t think of this as my final story – I can guarantee it is not. Instead, think of it as the first story of a budding journalist with more to learn and many stories to write.