LUCY BAKER

Since I can remember, I would wake up to the voices of Hoda Kotb or Wille Geist reporting on the top stories of the day. The news has always been on at my house and often a subject of conversation at the dinner table. My parents encouraged me from a young age to be “in the know.” I didn’t understand what they really meant until I got older, but their reminders stuck with me throughout the course of my teenage years. I was dubbed “nosy” in my family. I was eager to understand topics that were well beyond my years, or what was happening in our country and the world around us. 

The first copy of the Scholastic News Magazine I read was in my 1st grade class. Often, my teacher would tell us that we had 15 minutes of super silent reading (SSR.) This was music to my ears. Instead of grabbing from the plethora of books around me, I would beg for the newest issue of the Scholastic News Magazine. One day, as I was flipping through, I noticed a card that read “Want to be featured? Mail us back with your information!” I was intrigued. Could this be my journalist debut? I rushed home to give the paper to my mom, and we immediately filled out the card. 

About a month later, my mom received an email back that I was selected to write a short opinion piece on whether regifting was ok or not. Interestingly enough, Scholastic News picked the side I would take. I was on the “not ok” side. I was tasked with writing 1-2 paragraphs on my topic, and would be printed in the next issue. 

My interest and love for journalism and uncovering the truth started early. Literally, at 6 a.m. when the television turned on in my house. From then on, I knew that this was a passion and something I couldn’t wait to dive into.

In 8th grade, the counselors from my high school came to talk about scheduling for our freshman year. Our core classes were mostly decided for us, so they talked a lot about the different electives we were able to take. The norm at my high school was to take an art elective your freshman year, but I had my sights set on something else. Journalism 1. While all of my peers picked Designing with Materials and Painting, I sort of felt like the odd one out. However, the long stretch of no journalism classes up until this point had me practically on edge. I was told that the prerequisite for writing for our school's newsmagazine was to pass the Journalism 1 and 2 classes, both a semester long. I was so excited for my freshman year to begin, and couldn’t wait to take Journalism.