After 45 articles and nearly 200 interviews it is hard to say the Lantern has not impacted my life. I like to compare our class to the movie The Breakfast Club, or a movie that might be more familiar to seniors now, Lemonade Mouth. In both movies a band of kids from different groups in the school are sent to detention and become friends. In Lemonade Mouth the group creates a band, and in Lantern, we create a newspaper. 

I never thought of myself as an amazing writer – I’ve always been more into math and science, but this newspaper was much more than just writing assignments; it was building relationships and meeting new people. My first interview was with Merit Wagstaff, who was just elected freshman class president. I reluctantly wrote the article even though I lost in the race for class president to this very person. I started Lantern writing for something I was mad about, to now writing articles that I care about. Lantern is not a class, it’s a community. Every other class I’ve taken I work for to get a good grade, but in Lantern I worked hard to make a difference and to be heard. 

Through all the interviews I’ve done I’ve gotten to meet new people and become closer with teachers, administrators and students who wouldn’t have even known my name. The same goes for inside the classroom. If I never entered Mr. Silvidi’s room I would’ve never been friends with or even known Daniel, Kaylynn, Aidan, Natalie, Charlie, Bailey, Joe, Kendall, Rory, Sydney, Katherine, Rowan, Lily, Maria, Colton, Michael, Mikey, Cornelia, Erica and Maggy. We all came from different grades and different friend groups, but we were all bound together by this class.

As I go off now to write for the Kentucky Kernel at UK, I hope to find the type of community I found here at Revere, and I hope others get to experience the newsroom in room C210.