When I couldn’t find the right hook for this piece, I called my very reliable friend who I’ve known since my preschool days and asked him for some direction. Without hesitation, he reminded me of what I was missing at the beginning of high school: a sense of community at Algonquin.

For the first half of high school, I had no sense of belonging to the T-Hawk Nation. To be fair, it wasn’t entirely due to my lack of motivation. I did try out for volleyball and visit the yearly club fair, but nothing really sparked my interest.

It wasn’t until I walked into Ms. Coppens’ Journalism class junior year when I found a role that fit just perfectly for me. The spring semester was coming to a close and the Harbinger was taking applications for their editorial board. When I looked through the application, the role “Social Media Editor” caught my eye. For the first time, I felt this sense of excitement and purpose as a student at Algonquin. I immediately wrote down all of my ideas to improve the social media accounts and how it would be implemented. Soon after, I became the Social Media Editor of The Harbinger.

Fast forward to now, I have built relationships with everyone on the editorial board and our adviser Ms. Coppens. I have also learned some of the ins and outs of journalism and how to effectively promote the website to reach our readers. Along with becoming familiar with student journalism, I also found something I was really passionate about.

When I was asking my friend for help on this piece, we realized how important it is to have a purpose in our community. Whether you are involved in sports, clubs, or both, the work you put forth has indescribable value. In my opinion, no matter how much time I put into my role as an editor, The Harbinger has given me so much more. Honestly, my only regret these past four years is that I didn’t start sooner.

So, if you were to ask me my best advice for a high school student, it would be this: If you feel lost, try everything and anything, because once you find your passion, you also find your purpose.