In my four years here, I haven’t looked forward to a class the way I looked forward to journalism. It is a group of students and a teacher that I will forever remember and truly miss as I continue on in my journey of life.

I joined journalism my sophomore year because Mrs. Confino encouraged me to after she noticed my writing “skills” during my freshman year (also almost all of my friends did it). That year was the most fun. The class was lit, the teacher was amazing, and the new online version of The Current was popping, but my articles weren’t though.

That year I really learned how fun writing could be. I wouldn’t have been able to learn or understand that without Mrs. Confino. She did her best to make this class a fun one, while still being about business, and she did such a great job. I can proudly say she is the best teacher I have ever had in my school career.

By junior year, I had become primarily a sports writer, which meant I could get into games for free. I have zero shame in saying I completely abused this privilege and never paid for a sporting event that year. Mrs. Confino probably knew we all did this, but being the person she is, she never really called us out on it.

In my senior year, I found out I wouldn’t be able to do journalism, and I really felt like a part of me was lost. A class I had been taking all of high school was not on my schedule.

All of first semester, I was always visiting the journalism classes and was always in there for lunch. I realized then how much this class really affected me, I would leave classes just to go peek into the journalism class to annoy Mrs. Confino or, of course, my favorite, Sarah! I would spend entire lunches in that class because I felt comfortable there. Not many environments offer that to people.

Second semester came and Mrs. Confino and I found a way to put me into the class. I was finally back to where I belonged. I also felt a sense of happiness because Mrs. Confino really wanted me back in her class. 🙂

Every third period I knew I would get to have a break from my rigorous senior year classes and get to give Sarah and Mrs. Confino hell. They claimed they hated me, but I knew I always brightened their day and hopefully gave them a laugh. Sometimes people need that, and I love to be the one to give it to them.

Now that these four years have come to an end and I have nothing to say but thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Confino, for introducing such an immature sophomore to this class, thank you for being such an amazing teacher, and thank you for believing in me. I will come back to visit; this is not the end of Sal!