Grateful for Unleashed

By JASMINE OKBINOGLU
UNLEASHED STAFF
One day in the spring of 2006, I opened a letter I received in the mail. It informed me that I had been accepted into Unleashed, the section in the Yakima-Herald Republic in which teens had a voice.
I was ecstatic. I jumped up and down in front of my mailbox and ran into my house. I was ecstatic because my writing showed enough potential for me to be accepted. I was ecstatic because I had the opportunity to try something new.
But that day I didn’t realize what Unleashed would become to me. Unleashed was an opportunity for teenagers in the Yakima Valley who were interested in writing, photography and art. And it open a door to a world completely unknown to me.
It was a world filled with ink and paper, knowledge and power, freshness and captivation. And, from the first monthly team meeting to seeing my name in print, I became ensnared in this fantastic world.
I’m not trying to disillusion people into thinking it was easy. Meeting deadlines? Stressful. Getting women, particularly middle-aged women, to tell their true age for articles? Tough. Getting sent in circles to find accurate information? Frustrating.
But, at the same time, it was all worth it.
I was expected to be accurate, truthful and professional. In spite of a few obstacles, I managed to learn a little bit more about the world and people in it. Unleashed gave me the chance to learn about anything, everything.
No door was closed to me in my career as a high school reporter. I wrote about unusual and funny names for pets in the newspaper’s special “Pets and their People.” I wrote about local and statewide efforts to help environmental sustainability. I wrote about shoes. I wrote about an art teacher at my high school.
Every story bombarded me with new information that exploded right before my eyes. I filled pages with information I received from those I interviewed, information that caused me to think, “I never knew … ”
So, it saddened me greatly when I learned Unleashed was being cut from the Yakima-Herald Republic, because now students and the public will never know. Students will never know what Unleashed could have brought out in them, and the public will never know what stories they missed.
Unleashed provided an extremely wonderful chance for those of us who have participated in it. It gave us a voice.
It enabled us to prove to our parents, friends and general public that this generation isn’t filled with hooligans.
We might be young and naïve, and our ideas of the world might be radical and hopeful, but Unleashed bore them all. Unleashed has been our outlet and a source of information to those who surround us.
Throughout the three years I have been on the Unleashed team, I have grown and improved in more ways than one. I have become more responsible, and I have learned to listen. I have heard new perspectives that have changed the way I see the world. I have learned to question those around me.
My writing is far from excellent, but Unleashed has nourished it so that I can express myself in a coherent way. Unleashed has afforded me with a great experience that none can take away and that I can continue to learn from everyday.
And although the Unleashed program will no longer continue after March 1, I will find a new way to learn about the world. I will find a new way to express myself.
In the meantime, Unleashed has given me something I can never pay back. It has unlocked a part of me that I never even knew existed, and for that I will always be grateful.

— Jasmine Okbinoglu is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Eisenhower High School.