Editor’s Note
I grew up surrounded by writing. Both my parents had jobs as editors at various points during my childhood — my father in particular spent time working as the editor of an economic journal. My parents homeschooled me and gave me access to plenty of books and audiobooks, so it was natural for me to be drawn toward writing in my early years. I wrote chapters of fiction, essays, debate arguments, and oratories while in my pre and early teens, and much of what I wrote benefitted from my father’s editorial rigor.
When I enrolled in PVCC in the fall of 2021, having just turned 15, I was unsure what to expect — I had never been enrolled in any school past preschool — but I did expect that I would be pursuing writing when I could. I was very fortunate that the first class I attended was a composition class taught by Dr. Tamara Whyte, professor of English and the faculty adviser for The Forum. Dr. Whyte’s teaching style and curriculum were an excellent introduction to academic pursuit, and I quickly found myself further tuning my skills as a writer and editor.
After having taken both Composition I and II with Dr. Whyte, I still wanted to learn more from her. In the fall of 2022, I enrolled in a class that taught a style of writing I had barely considered for myself: journalism. It wasn’t until that class that I began to properly connect with PVCC beyond my classes. I got to know the college much more deeply as the need for article topics led me to interview faculty members and attend events I may not have even known about otherwise. Beyond teaching me to follow AP style, conduct interviews, format print issues, and edit articles, journalism helped me gain a deeper appreciation and connection to PVCC as a whole.Now, as I start the last year of my degree, I am once again pursuing journalism, this time as an editor. I intend to further explore PVCC as I discovered it in that journalism class a year ago and to both share my own discoveries about PVCC and help other aspiring writers do the same through The Forum.
