As soon as I was able to, I joined my high school newspaper, the Lincoln High School Statesman. I had to wait until I was a sophomore to take the journalism course and I had to take the journalism course before I could join the paper.

Starting my junior year I worked as a reporter. My senior year I was the News Editor, responsible for assigning and editing stories, page layout and proofing before the paper went to the printer. I got the chance to write hard news along with a few fun pieces and a couple of opinion columns.

One of my favorite stories I wrote for The Statesman was about a young man named Max Blaschke. He had Retinitis Pigmentosa, which left him blind at a young age, but he didn't let that deter him from leading a very active life, involved in several school activiites. It was a feel-good article that I enjoyed getting the opportunity to write.

Another fun aspect about the story was that the headline in the newspaper was braille.

One of the local printing companies printed up 700 strips of paper - each with the headline in braille. I hand-glued each of the braille pieces onto each copy of the paper. It took a lot of time and two glue sticks, but it turned out very cool.