Three years of editing shifts Sheth into integrated lifestyle

By Julia Sheth

Editor-in-Chief

Walking into the La Vista room on the first day of my freshman year, I had absolutely no idea what was in store for me. I thought I was simply joining an extracurricular activity, but, in reality, I was adopting a lifestyle.

When I began my journey on La Vista during my freshman year, I barely knew how the newspaper worked. I wrote articles and made staff writer theme pages, and that was it. At the time, I didn’t think that I wanted to be an editor. But when the end of freshman year rolled around, I took a leap of faith and decided to interview for an editor position, and, much to my surprise, I became a theme editor for my sophomore year.

That year is when my participation in La Vista turned into much more than just an after-school activity. I learned what “production week” truly meant, including the 12:30 a.m. nights, the delusional and hilarious conversations between sleep-deprived editors and the 8 p.m. coffee runs.

But more importantly, I found a community of people who I could look up to and learn from, people who could accurately and intelligently inform me about the school while still providing entertainment to last hours.

All the experience I had my sophomore year made me more than thrilled to join the Arts section my junior year as an Arts editor. With Ian Rappoport and Jack Howorth as my fellow editors that year, it is safe to say that there was never a lack of hard work for me to learn from (shout out to Ian) or hilarity to take off the edge of those long, late nights (shout out to Jack).

And all that led to this year, when I took on the role of editor-in-chief along with the best, most passionate partner-in-crime that I could possibly ask for, Jessie Rosenfeld. Jessie is the most selfless leader I have ever seen, always putting the needs of the paper over those of her own. She never thinks that a task is impossible and works to make sure that the paper has quality content. On top of all that, she has become one of my closest friends.

When Jessie and I began our time as editors-in-chief, we had big shoes to fill, with Taylor St. Germain and Jack Allen passing down the torch to us. But I must say that I think we pulled it off. And I couldn’t be more thankful for or proud of all of the people we had on staff this year, including the staff writers, photographers, videographers and editors, who helped us get there.

It is strange to think that this is my 39th and last issue, and that after this article gets published, I will no longer be part of La Vista. But I know that the La Vista lifestyle will always be a part of me.