Walking to room 2306 on Tuesday afternoons, my shoulders simultaneously relax and tense up. Exhale. The school day is over. Inhale. The reality of having to produce an entire issue of The Chatterbox sets in.

Exhale. I push myself forward, and my hand opens the heavy door.

Greeted by the buzz of ideas and the smell of lukewarm pizza, I make my way to a computer, laughing at a joke someone made and grabbing a piece of pizza on the way. As I lower myself into the chair, surrounded by people doing what they love, I know I am where I belong: this is my community.

As the afternoon progresses, questions over journalism ethics, AP Style, and the First Amendment fly around the air. I catch bits and pieces of each discussion, and weigh in on some as well.

With each word that is spoken, we open our minds, and try to produce content that will open the minds of our readers as well. Because The Chatterbox community isn’t gone when we leave the Journalism Lab. It surrounds us in the halls, in classrooms, and even on the hundreds of surveys that our adviser posts on Schoology.

By creating an issue of The Chatterbox every two weeks, we seek to serve our community. We are committed connecting students to the larger WHHS community, reporting on the victories, losses, and everyday happenings around the school. We are devoted to connecting the WHHS community to the larger community of Cincinnati, highlighting topics that are faced by more than the school. We are dedicated to connecting Cincinnati with the world, presenting national issues with the WHHS perspective.

And although we go to a school with more than 3,000 students, live in a city with more than 300,000 residents, and live in a world with more than 7 billion people, The Chatterbox works to serve our community: informing, reporting, and connecting.