Grace Burwell

As a middle school student, senior Grace Burwell already had a picture in mind of what she would do in high school. Join student government, get involved with mock trial, mentor elementary school students—she assumed she had to do all of these things, and more, in order to have a “typical” high school experience.

Looking back though, Burwell has realized that many of these activities she tried out during the past four years are what she believed other people wanted her to do and not what she was genuinely passionate about. It has been a learning process for her, consisting of trying out different clubs and exploring new things, but before long, she had landed back at one of her original interests coming into high school, journalism—but with a twist.

In the middle of her sophomore year, Burwell became the first editor of the TidePod section of the Tide. She was initially overwhelmed by the role, having to figure out on the fly how to send out emails, organize meetings and coordinate with all the contributors working together on the podcast. Podcasts as a whole were also foreign to her; prior to becoming the TidePod editor, she knew nothing about them. “I was like, how am I the right person for this? It should be a senior, someone who had more experience on the newspaper,” she said.

However, Burwell soon found the confidence she needed to lead the new section of the Tide, and she continued her position as the TidePod editor through her junior year. After the initial leap outside of her comfort zone, Burwell now has experience with a style of journalism that she otherwise would have never considered working with. “learned a lot about myself and also just about journalism by doing something that was completely new to me,” she said.

By Victoria Tong