Applications Available for 2009 Valley Workshop

Yakima Valley teens who are interested in journalism and photography are invited to apply for the 2009 Valley Workshop.

The intensive, day-and-a-half-long workshop will be held March 20-21, 2009, in Yakima. Its mission is to increase teens’ interest in journalism and help them realize the power and necessity of community journalism.

There’s room for 10 high school students who will have the chance to cover a story with a mentor, either a professional journalist or photojournalist. Students’ stories and photos will then be published in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

The workshop — sponsored by the Herald-Republic, Tri-City Herald, Society of Professional Journalists and Associated Press — is free. It includes a Friday night pizza dinner at the Herald-Republic. Saturday, students will work on their stories and photos in the newsroom.

To apply, students must fill out an application form and provide one letter of recommendation. Applications are due Feb. 20, 2009.

For more information or an application, contact Valley Workshop coordinator Adriana Janovich at 577-7653 or ajanovich@yakimaherald.com.

A Confidence-Booster and a Catalyst for Change

By ALYSSA PATRICK
EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL

Three years and four months ago, my name appeared for the first time on the inside back page of the sports section of this newspaper.

There it was, proudly sitting atop my first published piece. I was in the eighth grade still, not even a high schooler yet. Not driving, not going to prom, not thinking about college, and yet I was a published journalist.

What a sparkling moment that was. But the beauty of Unleashed is, that wasn’t even the best part.

Being published in the newspaper is always a rewarding feeling, but this program has given me so much more than just a byline. It has helped to shape me.

My very first real news story took me about five leagues out of my comfort realm. I was a freshman ballet dancer who loved to read, and I was headed to a skate park for the first time in my life. Nerves fluttered through my body as my dad drove me down 40th Avenue, not because I was scared of the people who would be at the park, but because I was scared of what they would think of me.

I felt so vastly different from my idea of a “skater,” yet I was supposed to not only talk to them, but ask them questions about their lives. The story was about a man who barbecued every Sunday for free at the park. Of course, my first mission was to talk to him, and luckily I found him right away. We ended up talking for about an hour, and I grew more and more comfortable by the minute.

“What a fascinating person!” I thought. “Look at how much time he is willing to put in for these kids, look at how caring he is.” And after I talked to him, I talked to the “skaters,” who turned out to be just people. People who followed their hobby with great zeal, people who appreciated the warm smiles and burgers of a man who genuinely cared about their well-being.

I learned a tremendous amount that day — about myself, about others, about life in general. These are lessons I would have missed without Unleashed.

And over the years I’ve learned even more, especially from the people I have encountered.

It seems the part I always dreaded most, calling a source for an interview, always ended up being the most rewarding. Being a journalist allows me to get into people’s lives, to hear and be trusted with their stories. Sure, I may have met Michelle Wyles at a community event of some sort, but I would never have learned how she was an antique dealer before she settled down as a small business owner if I hadn’t been working on a story about her store, Garden Dance.

I may have seen Azalea Koestler in a play at Yakima Valley Community College one day, but I would not have had the chance to sit comfortably in her home and watch her speak so maturely about her theatrical life if I had not been writing a profile about her.

Yakima has such a stunning variety of people with interesting stories to tell, with passions and opinions to share. Talking with an assorted handful of these people has opened my eyes to the uniqueness of this community, and granted me the ability to appreciate it long before I would have without Unleashed.

Working as the student editor has also assisted in cultivating my respect for all things Yakima-made, especially this newspaper. A couple days a week, I get to spend my time among reporters, photographers, editors and many other people who work so hard for an industry and community that they believe in.

They stretch themselves out as much as possible to objectively cover all aspects of every issue that may be interesting or important to a town like Yakima. They work odd hours, have frequent meetings in order to keep altering and adapting to changes, constantly learn new technology, share their rewarding interviews, work aptly on deadline, and keep a sense of humor through it all.

I’ve learned so much about how I want to live my life by merely being in the same room with them.

In three years and four months, my writing skills have improved, my attention to detail has blossomed, my understanding has broadened, and my confidence has taken several steps upward. Unleashed is the catalyst that allowed all of those changes.

Thank you, Unleashed.

— Alyssa Patrick, a senior at Eisenhower High School, is in her fourth year on the Unleashed team. She is also in her second year as the student editor of Unleashed.

Manna from Heaven for a Sports-Averse Teenager

By ALEX FRANK
FOR UNLEASHED

Narrowing it down to a single, earthshaking turning point isn’t easy.

There was my first at-bat in Little League, when I was beaned in the back by a 45 mph fastball courtesy of my best friend. I got on base and, eventually, attempted to score a run that, unbeknownst to me as I shot a celebratory finger skyward, had been rendered null by a third out, long before my cleated foot trod that big plastic hunk. We were the Red Sox, but at that point, I was the star player of the Red Cheex.

Still, I don’t think that was the event.

I’m pretty sure that moment came when I was 10, during a YMCA basketball game. Through some miraculous mental slip by one of my teammates, I was given the ball after a particularly hardscrabble series of rebounds.

Dopily smacking the ball downcourt, I clod across the parquet of the third-floor gym, lacing the classic Clyde Drexler crossover lay-in that I had practiced so many times in my driveway. As the ball dropped through the impossibly high net, I wondered briefly why it had been so easy, as, up to that point, even two points in a game was for me a massive achievement.

That brief sense of wonder at my own burst of athletic skill was brought crashing earthward when I heard a chorus of high-pitched 10-year-old teammates screaming at me for draining that beautiful shot in the wrong hoop. I had scored for the other team. Van Gogh sunsets have seen less crimson than my face at that moment.

So, I became a writer.

If lay-ins and home runs weren’t going to be my thing, why fight it? Thus, it’s with eternal gratitude that I acknowledge the Yakima Herald-Republic for establishing Unleashed, essentially the finest nonsports team that a smart-but-clumsy kid with a gift for writing could ask for; and my mother, for pushing a then-reluctant eighth-grader to apply for a position.

While I doubt many of my peers on Unleashed shared my shame-ridden youth sports history (which, to this day, turns my bearded cheeks a bit red), they did partake in what was undeniably a defining element in my adolescence.

Not only did I learn how to report and write from some of the best mentors a burgeoning journalist could’ve asked for — serious props to Maisy Fernandez, John Taylor, Adriana Janovich, Jane Gargas and Kim Nowacki — I developed an evaluative, questioning mind that I maintain today. I made great friends with many of my fellow Unleashed staffers, and shamelessly macked on the cute girls. The fact that I ended up as a journalist throughout college almost seems secondary to the amazing experiences Unleashed provided me in my teens.

From shaky interviews with my punk-rock heroes, to sorta-satiric columns about well-known Time magazine writers who ended up actually writing me back, to congratulations from parents’ friends who I barely recognized about a story that I somehow forgot would be read by more than 40,000 people, Unleashed became for me what traditional high-school activities — yes, varsity athletics, I’m looking at you — could never have been: a source of undiluted, well-earned pride. My cheeks were red, but for entirely different, entirely better reasons.

Just as importantly, Unleashed gave me a sense of belonging. Punk bands and goofy school plays aside, writing was my thing. When I arrived at a big, scary Midwestern university’s journalism school, the kid from an unpronounceable town on the wrong side of a remote state’s mountains, I found I could hack it. And when I ditched the journalism degree for a crunchy liberal arts education a little closer to home, my background as a reporter not only helped me with that unending torrent of papers bestowed upon English majors, but kept me marginally employed as a freelance music writer and section editor of the student newspaper.

So, Unleashed, here’s to you.

You transformed me from a 14-year-old, journalistically inclined failure at sports into a 23-year-old writer with an eternally inquisitive mind and strong sense of confidence, who, undoubtedly, is still a failure at sports. I fell in and out of love across the pizza crust-strewn tables at your meetings, and learned about who I was, and am, while faced with a blank Word document’s blinking cursor, struggling to meet your deadlines. You gave me a place to belong, an identity, and, above all, something to call my own.

Now, who’s blushing?

— Alex Frank, a 2003 Davis High School graduate, was a member of Unleashed’s inaugural team. He also served as student editor of the section.

The Best Training Ground for Tackling Difficult Stories

By ELOÍSA RUANO GONZÁLEZ
ORLANDO SENTINEL

I’ve always feared vultures.

Perhaps it’s because of an old family superstition that the carnivorous bird brings death. Albert Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds” may also have been responsible for this bizarre phobia.

Last spring, though, I found myself standing under hundreds of vultures that were ravaging a small town in central Florida. My fears swelled when I discovered a tornado sweeping nearby.

Are the vultures warning me about something? I wondered. I was ready to flee, but it was the residents’ frustrations and my sense of duty to report their problem that kept me grounded.

The vultures were roosting in their neighborhood. They were ripping rooftop shingles, gnawing on rubber linings on car windows and regurgitating their “meals,” and defecating on vehicles, rooftops, sidewalks and trees.

They had been there for years, but the problem amplified when hundreds more joined the roost and residents found little to no options in getting rid of them. People weren’t even allowed to shoo away the federally protected birds, which were also protected by a city ordinance.

Courage and a strong stomach, keys to tackling good stories, kept me there — just like they kept me at an assignment at a national rowing event in Delaware. I didn’t know how to swim and was terrified of large bodies of water, yet I had to write about first-time rowers. After partially plunging into the river and ripping my pants after falling out of a boat while on assignment, I learned that water and humiliation aren’t all that bad.

Unleashed taught me to swallow my fears and, at times, my pride. I was a timid 16-year-old when I started writing for the section in 2000. I hated asking questions in class. Even though I wanted to empower people by telling their stories, the idea of interviewing strangers horrified me.

Unleashed put my pains at ease, helping me set aside my feelings, particularly my fears. I learned to be more confident and interview classmates, teachers and other professionals in the community without hyperventilating.

I’ve carried these lessons with me to each newspaper I’ve worked at, including the Yakima Herald-Republic, where I became the first Unleashed alumna to return as a full-time reporter. I stayed in Yakima for a year and a half before taking a job with the Orlando Sentinel last December.

Not only has Unleashed empowered people by giving them an outlet to share their creativity, experiences and opinions, but it also strengthened me by helping me find the courage to tackle even the most difficult stories.

The toughest part of a reporter’s job is staying calm while interviewing a person whose life has been ripped apart after a tragedy.

Earlier this year at the Orlando Sentinel, I covered a 70-car pileup on a major interstate where nearly 40 people were injured and at least five were killed. Tractor-trailers had overturned and cars were crushed like tin cans.

I ended up sitting on a front porch with a Honduran man who survived the early morning accident after he was ripped out of his van as he was heading to work with friends and relatives. His older brother, though, didn’t survive.

Although the 25-year-old man and his relatives feared they would lose their jobs after suffering fractured bones and sore backs and were unable to work, they were more concerned about finding a way to pay to fly their relative’s body back to Honduras so his four children, ages 10, 8, 7 and 1 1?2, could say goodbye.

It was a difficult story, but an important one to tell. The man wanted to publicly hold state wildlife officials accountable for his brother’s death after they lost control of a fire they ignited several hours before to burn dangerously dry brush near the interstate. And residents wanted to understand what happened that foggy, smoky morning.

It’s the small accomplishments, such as facing water and vulture phobias, that can prepare you for the more important stories, like a 70-car pileup. And programs like Unleashed are the ones that get you there.

— Eloísa Ruano González, a 2002 Davis High School graduate, was the first (and so far, only) former Unleashed student hired as a full-time reporter at the Yakima Herald-Republic. She is now working as a reporter at the Orlando Sentinel in Florida.

A Launch Pad for the Valley’s Young Talent

By DREW TOOP
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

I’ve only been off the team for, oh, how long has it been? A year and some months, I believe. My experiences on Unleashed, I think, have influenced me greatly.

However, I’ve already said as much in these pages, so I won’t write too long.

I remember my first Unleashed meeting, probably looking very, very young and wondering what I would make of myself during my time on the team, not knowing that I would reapply for further years nor write so much.

My younger self didn’t think about the possibility that Unleashed would be a fixture of my teenage years. In fact, when I had the opportunity to become a columnist, I was excited, but yet I remember not thinking much of it. I was floating, really.

During the time I was on the team, and since I have been off, the Yakima Herald-Republic, like almost all newspapers in the United States, has gotten smaller, because “nobody reads newspapers anymore.”

I sense that features like Unleashed exist in part to encourage young people to get newspaper subscriptions. To write it openly: Unleashed is intended as a commercial.

The problem with this, however, is that it seems the most avid readers of the section are of older generations.

I know that many young people do read Unleashed, and that stories and columns from it are often studied in high school English classes. But it seems that overall, the section has failed to do what was intended, simply because it could never do what was intended.

The decline of the daily is going to reach its inevitable end about 20 years from now, if not earlier.

What good, then, is Unleashed?

Just because youth pages won’t save newspapers is no reason to ignore or remove them, especially one of such quality as ours. Unleashed serves a much more important purpose in that it gathers together a good sampling of the next generation of writers, artists and photographers and pushes their skills forward.

It is the launch pad for the Yakima Valley’s young talent. Let’s face it: There are very few cultural venues in the Valley, especially ones easily accessible to young people.

Unleashed helps fill a void.

It also builds friendships. I am especially grateful to Unleashed for introducing me to one of the best people in the world, my good friend Desiree Pebeahsy, a 2008 White Swan High School graduate.

We’re both kids from the launch pad, and we both owe it to the page for the encouragement it gave us. I can only hope that others will say the same for some years to come.

— Drew Toop, a four-year veteran of the Unleashed team and a 2007 graduate of Davis High School, attends Washington State University.

An Outlet for Teenage Subversiveness

By WALTER SCHLECT
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

Two and a half years ago, for reasons I no longer remember, I became curious to see if there was ever a Communist Party in Yakima.

My curiosity was not so large that I went to the headquarters of this newspaper, which I wrote for at the time, to search the archives, or to the museum, to investigate historical documents, or even to the library, to see if anybody had already dug up the information and published it in a book.

Instead, I lazily went to Google and put in several combinations of search terms, including, but not limited to, “communism” and “Yakima.”

The search could not have lasted longer than 15 minutes. I came up with several useless Web pages until I narrowed the search so that only a handful of these sites showed up. One seemed to be what I was looking for.

It was about McCarthyism in the 1950s and had something to do with Yakima. I found it at the Yakima Herald-Republic Web site, clicked on it, started to skim it, and soon realized it wouldn’t help me, because it was just about Edward R. Murrow’s journalism campaign against former senator Joseph McCarthy. It was something I already knew about, having written a movie review of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a fictional account of the event.

Then it hit me: I was reading the very movie review I had written.

My year with Unleashed offered me experience, work ethic, better writing skills and many other things adults approve of in a youth activity. These things are very valuable, of course, but looking back at the experience, nothing was more pleasurable than that tiny moment I felt finding my article in a subversive search.

To be subversive is the goal of every respectable teenager, and I felt, for a moment, that I had achieved it. It’s almost dangerous the kind of free rein given to Unleashed reporters. I could write an objective article, or I could write my opinion. I could write a favorable review of a work of art, or a negative review of something far below art.

So many more people than I had expected read the section. I realized this when teachers and acquaintances would comment to me about something I had written. I was always shy about this public recognition and would usually change the subject. I hadn’t really found a voice yet, and sometimes I felt uncomfortable that my developing voice was being published for the community to see.

Sometimes, I felt Unleashed should be an underground journal. But the Communist Internet search made me realize how wonderfully subversive the experience was, and what made if more subversive was that it was there for everyone who was searching for the history of the Communist Party in Yakima County to see.

I still haven’t found my own voice, and I still don’t know what I want to be, but having the opportunity to write for Unleashed meant that it didn’t matter. There was a power in the unknown, and as I write this, I’m beginning to remember what that was like.

— Walter Schlect, a 2006 graduate of West Valley High School, is a junior at Washington State University. He served on Unleashed his senior year of high school.

“Absolutely everything to me for four years”

By OLIVIA HERNANDEZ
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY

Unleashed was absolutely everything to me for four years.

Writing for the section was my varsity sport, my yearbook, my band, my flag team, my cheerleading squad, my exceptionally geeky anti-drug. Dorky as it may sound, it’s the truth.

I invested four years of my youth in writing columns and stories once a month for CD money and free pizza, and still feel as if I haven’t given enough in return.

The section gave me a voice when I was 14 years old, not even out of middle school, a voice that people intended me to actually use. I was given the opportunity and the freedom to be who I was and say the things I wanted to on a very public platform.

Those things that I desperately wanted to say were maybe not always earth-shattering and sometimes just awkward grumbling about the world around me, but other people read those words, and they read my name, and I could relish in the fact that I had something that belonged so much to me.

My writing for Unleashed was always my own, never stepped on by other people, or changed by expectations of the community members who read the paper.

I wrote about the things that I thought were important, and I reported about things that I didn’t expect other people would see otherwise. Unleashed was the first to showcase the debut high school Gay-Straight Alliance in Yakima and was very quick to cover the canceling of the Laramie Project at Davis High School two years ago.

Yet, more than anything, Unleashed has instilled a passion in me.

I walked into the program an intimidated 14-year-old who rather enjoyed writing diatribes against fake punk bands and wanted to do the same thing on a larger scale.

I left my final Unleashed meeting a slightly less intimidated 18-year-old, one who still loves attacking bad art, but celebrates the merit in storytelling.

I come away from Unleashed wanting to share experiences, my own and those of the people in the community around me. I want to lend other people the voice that Unleashed afforded me. I want to challenge readers’ perceptions and change the way we see the world. Lofty expectations, I know, but they’re the only ones that matter when you realize you want to become a writer.

I have learned the role of a journalist through Unleashed, as well as through a handful of journalism workshops and mentorships that the program has introduced me to. I am passionate about stories and am eager to learn more and achieve more as a reporter and columnist.

The past four years have been training and preparation for the next four years: a college experience in which I hope to better hone the skills of the writer that I am now. I plan to expand my voice and become bigger and better than I have been before.

And then turn around and give back.

Unleashed is the best thing in this community for young people like I was and I am. It transcends sports and music and sometimes even school in the purpose that it gave me as a teenager. Unleashed gave me a reason to want to succeed, to push myself and do better. I honestly, and I mean in complete truth, do not know the kid that I would be without Unleashed.

I imagine I would be someone without the passion I have in my life. A kid without the success and self-fulfillment that I have already been so lucky to experience. I hope Yakima never loses this program; it would be a blow to the quality of this community’s young people.

I know I will be coming back every summer, ready to help this program grow and expand. I will come back ready to help the next generation of eighth-graders who have yet to find their niche, help them discover that Unleashed is that exact niche that has been waiting for them.

— Olivia Hernandez, a four-year veteran of the Unleashed program and a 2008 Davis High School graduate, attends Seattle University.

A Gateway to Recognition and Self-Discovery

By ANDY CARROLL
LA SALLE HIGH SCHOOL

I remember the first time I saw the Unleashed section in the Yakima Herald-Republic. I was 8 years old, and I stumbled upon it while looking for the comics and movie listings.

At the time, it didn’t strike me as anything out of the ordinary. After all, teenagers fell into the large category of people who were bigger and older than me.

And, of course, I had no idea that I would be part of the team eight years later.

I began writing for Unleashed two years ago. When I first applied, I didn’t like my chances of getting on. I thought my lack of experience with a school newspaper (something I didn’t have in middle school or my freshman year of high school) would put me at a disadvantage against those who had.

To say that I was merely excited to get my acceptance letter would be an understatement; it was hands down the highlight of my school year. For years, I’d written on my own time, and now I would finally have a place for my work to be read.

My first year was only moderately productive. Like many first-year reporters, I started off writing feature articles that typically didn’t stray far from my school. But it was in my second year that I really found my niche in writing columns.

I figured that being a columnist would be a way for me to be more productive, seeing as there was a monthly deadline. However, it gave me more than just a large number of articles; freed from the requirement of being the eyes and ears of an event, I got to inject my own voice into my writing.

Being a columnist expanded the horizons with which I wrote about the world around me. While at school, I would write essays about characters in stories or some historical event. But when I would come home and be faced with the terror of an imminent deadline, I got to write about issues that mattered to me.

Every once in a while, I would have a fun topic, like Christmas shopping or superheroes, but I also had tougher ones, like teen sex and the value of being ordinary.

In my third and final year with Unleashed, it has taken over as my main extracurricular activity. But it is much more to me than just something I do in my spare time. It has been a gateway to recognition and self-discovery.

Never did I imagine that some of my peers would tell me they look for my articles in the newspaper. I also never imagined that it would help me regain some of the favor I’d lost with a friend with whom I’d fallen out of contact for several years.

I’ve reached a wider audience than I ever expected. People young and old tell me that they enjoy my work.

Writing for Unleashed has helped me discover a lot about myself. As the gap between “who I’m becoming” and “who I am” continues to close, I’ve gotten a great idea of what I’m capable of doing and where I stand. It even has me thinking about pursuing journalism as a career.

I believe Unleashed represents a great opportunity for the teens in the Yakima Valley. We get the chance to show that we can be thoughtful and expressive individuals rather than the obnoxious and self-centered delinquents we’re often stereotyped as being.

With the June 2009 date of my high school graduation approaching, I feel a little sad that this is the final year I will be writing for Unleashed. But at the same time, I will be forever grateful for this incredible opportunity.

— Andy Carroll, a senior at La Salle High School, is a three-year member of the Unleashed team.

A Job and a Privilege

By COLLEEN FONTANA
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL

Since I don’t already have enough on my plate, I decided to add another thing. And Unleashed is one priority I don’t want to miss out on.

For teenagers especially, having a way to express their ideas and interests to the rest of the community is a fun outlet and a healthy one.

Ever since my older sisters participated in Unleashed, I knew I wanted to do the same. I’d gotten decent scores in Language Arts class, and writing was definitely a passion, so without delay, at the end of eighth grade, I sent in my application to be a part of this program.

For the past few years that I’ve written for Unleashed, I know I have changed, not only my writing techniques, but also my personality. From that first timid phone interview, to how I now confidently dial numbers to schedule interviews in person, I feel an immense difference. I no longer worry about how good my writing is; I focus on how I can make it better.

Being a reporter means taking on a responsibility that not all teens have. Deadlines must be met and expectations must be followed. Interviews and photos have certain rules because it’s our job as writers and photographers to relay accurate news to the readers.

Unleashed is a privilege, one that cannot be taken for granted. I am thrilled to have been part of the program for the past few years, but I am also ecstatic to welcome new staffers so that teenagers all around the Valley can continue to have an active voice in the community.

So between sports games, tests and piano recitals, I will keep writing. Not simply to see my name in print, but to watch as my ideas influence those who read them.

My dream is to someday write professionally, and now, thanks to Unleashed, I’m a little bit closer to that goal.

— Colleen Fontana, a junior at Davis High School, is in her third year on the Unleashed team.

Opportunities Pour In

By WYATT KANYER
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

I’ve been stockpiling opportunities.

I’ve competed in essay contests and for scholarship money. I’ve applied and been accepted to a variety of colleges. And I’ve been selected for and participated in a couple of specialized workshops for student journalists.

Last school year, my senior year, particularly overflowed with accomplishment. And it’s all because I chose to act on one special opportunity about two years ago: Unleashed.

The moment I chose to pursue Unleashed, opportunities began pouring in. I met fellow teens who liked what I liked. I met a plethora of interesting characters by interviewing them for stories. In between, I was given the opportunity to pursue a career at a young age. Basically, when I chose Unleashed, I began my career as a journalist.

That’s why Unleashed is unique. It’s not an average school paper. It’s not a high school yearbook. Sure, it’s only a weekly section. But it’s set in a seven-day-a-week newspaper full of prospective mentors and experienced professionals.

It’s the equivalent of a teen who wants to be a doctor getting to work at a hospital for a couple of years. It’s hands-on. It’s an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And for teens who want to make a difference, it’s an opportunity worth taking.

Maybe you feel like your voice isn’t being heard. Maybe you feel like you can’t make a difference just because you’re a teenager. But when your name is in the same newsprint as the bylines adults read every morning, you will be heard. And trust me, it will happen fast.

Strangers will approach you and say things like, “Great article. I really agreed with what you said.” Or, maybe, “That wasn’t the best choice.” Sometimes, people have even approached me with story ideas. It’s like being a real-life reporter. And that’s just the beginning.

Through Unleashed, I was able to participate in The Valley Workshop at the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Journalism Summer Workshop at Seattle University. I had the privilege of stepping out of my surroundings. I was able to experience the job of a reporter, all the while learning straight from the source: reporters who had been there and done that. And they wanted to see me thrive.

I was even taught by Tomas Guillén, the investigative reporter who covered the Green River Killer for the Seattle Times. Now, that’s what I call an opportunity.

Plus, it was nice to get paid a little — $15 per article or column — for doing something that I loved. (I would have easily done it for free.)

And to me, the perks weren’t even the most important. The most effective aspect of Unleashed is its permissiveness. I was able to express myself in my favorite manner — written words — without being limited. Whatever was important to me, I wrote about, and it was printed.

To me, Unleashed epitomizes free speech, my favorite American attribute. What’s different, though, is that it gives that speech to teens, the voice of the future, the generation to come.

With the compilation of opportunities, of course, comes responsibility. It’s a responsibility to devote time and energy to your work and develop strong communication with your editor. But most importantly, it’s a responsibility to properly represent your generation. Sometimes, it’s going to be a choice between expressing yourself irrationally or performing a duty that will contribute to your community’s well-being.

Overall, this responsibility leads to growth. It definitely caused me to be aware of what I wrote. It forced me to write better, which has been irreplaceably beneficial.

All this takes bravery. It takes a willingness to learn. It takes patience. But it’s beneficial, especially if you plan to pursue a career in journalism, or even if you just like to write, or draw, or take photos. Unleashed is a platform. For some, it’s an experiment. It’s incredibly versatile.

When I chose Unleashed, I chose opportunity. And opportunities continue to come in.

A book I recently read — “In a Pit With a Lion On A Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson — says, “You don’t have to get it right the first time, but you do have to start somewhere. A dream becomes reality one opportunity at a time.”

When I chose Unleashed, a dream became a reality. I just wish I had more time on the team.

— Wyatt Kanyer, a two-year veteran of the Unleashed program and a 2008 Riverside Christian School graduate, attends Texas Christian University.

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