Hannah Rose, Editor-in-Chief

   From the very beginning, high school never really felt like home. I struggled, as did every other student, to find my way. However, since sophomore year I found one specific room where I felt I truly belonged. The people there played a large part in helping shape who I am today.

   Through the ups and downs, Newspaper offered a space I could go to unwind without worrying about the people around me. There are many people that caused me to feel this way toward the class. Ms. Avery, my journalism teacher freshman year and newspaper advisor sophomore and the beginning of junior year, deserves the most thanks for getting me to where I am today. Freshman year I had no idea what I was good at, what I wanted to do with my life, or really any faith in myself; Avery taught me otherwise. She pushed me to believe in myself, guided me through life inside and out of the newsroom, and gave me a confidence I do not think I ever would have truly gained without her and the other members of the news staff. Thank you Ave for being my school mom, for believing in me, and for not so discreetly pushing me to join the paper and keep with it. Sadly, there was a swap in administration, and after the middle of junior year Ave was no longer our adviser. Luckily, the two advisers to follow were also amazing women that continued to teach me important life lessons.

   Thank you to my second newspaper adviser Mrs. Finkle. While I did not get to know you on a very personal level, you did teach me one very important lesson: to persevere. I have never been a fan of change, but through Finkle I learned that change is sometimes necessary and it’s not an excuse to lay down and give up. Special thanks to since graduated staff members Wes, Morgan, and Joey. Wes, you were a great Editor-in-Chief and you pulled us through. I looked towards your lead last year a lot to get through the struggles of this year. To Morgan and Joey, thank you for being the weirdos beside me causing every hour to be filled with laughter – you made last year my favorite year despite the struggles.

   This current year has been extremely different to the ones previous. It was my turn to be Editor-in-Chief, and boy in the beginning was I terrified to mess up. My first year I had the amazing Katie T as my Editor, and she made everything look easy. My second year, I had the infamous Wesley Joubert, who always had the best attitude despite the endless obstacles thrown in our way. Those were big names to live up to, at least in my eyes. In the end, I feel I pulled it all together well enough to help get us where we are now. As an award winning publication through SNO, Kendall Scholastic Art and Writing, National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), and MIPA, I feel with the help of my amazing staff I am proud of my role as Editor-in-Chief. We could not have gotten to this point without our new adviser Ms. Wolke.

   Thank you Wolke for getting us to where we are now. I’ll admit it was a rocky start learning to meet your expectations, but I am honestly grateful for them. No one else has really ever pushed me that hard, and it is what got me to a result I can be proud of. Thank you to the entire staff for standing by me as I learned my role. Special thanks to John for the endless amount of help you offered, I could not have done it without you. Thank you Ray (24) for being my newspaper buddy, you made this year great in your weird way that I love. “Go for… thank god we are done!” Thank you Mikayla for dealing with Ray and I. Thank you Dawg Pound for the ear splitting music that surprisingly added to my day and keeping the room less serious. Thank you to Foy for keeping conversation light and making everyday more enjoyable. I know you and Kelly will be amazing Co-Editor-in-Chiefs next year. I think we made great strides this year but I have faith that you both will surpass them next year. Finally, thank you Relaxed Rob. I will come back to class and add 20 points to the board if we do not have that Sparty your Senior year. All jokes aside, great job with the website; I know you will do great things.

   I thought of quitting a few times. I won’t lie and say that every day in the newspaper room was easy, but that is just the point. The challenges we had to overcome gave me a great foundation for college. Newspaper will forever be my fondest memory in high school. Newspaper gave me a voice when I felt I had none. Newspaper is the reason I became so passionate about fighting for diversity rights, and thus the reason I got into the Multicultural Advancement (MAC) program at CMU. For anyone who wants to write, wants a place in the school to call home, and needs a new outlet, I 100% recommend joining newspaper.

Joshua Blatt, Sports Editor/Graphic Designer

   The newspaper room has been a haven for ¾ of my high school experience. From Pat, Katie, and Cisler to Jorg, Beast, and Wes all the way to the current “Dawg Pound.” The Pound has been the absolute best part of my otherwise boring senior year (well the parties were fun) and has never ceased to amaze me with the absolute dumb things that we have laughed at. I have a lot of people to thank, first off I have to give a big thank you to OC, she was the newspaper teacher before I got to high school, but she made my brother fall in love with journalism and that got passed to me. I need to thank Av (Haney?), for being my journalism teacher my freshman year and putting up with my immaturity, her giving me the opportunity my sophomore year to write (even if it wasn’t the best writing, practice helps, right?). I have to thank Fink for taking over and dousing the wildfire that was the Comet’s Tale when Av had to take a better position in the school and always saying hi when I see her in the C.I. room now. I have to thank Wolke and Ms. Lee as well, i’ll be honest with you guys now. I didn’t try as much as I should’ve in high school, I was a 3.0 student that probably should’ve been around a 4.0 student and It showed in a major way this year. Wolke, you put up with the constant whining and more late articles than not and for that, I thank you. I have to shout out The Pound, ⅘ of us are going to Grand Valley State in the fall, which is extremely dangerous for the mental state of our fellow class of ‘23, but we’ll manage just fine. Brody, Ethan, and A-Mac we’re going to drive GVSU crazy, and Noah I hope you can go hard in the paint at Western. I acted like a clown in this class, so to every other member of the Comet’s Tale thank you for putting up with me. Here’s to not dropping out in the fall! Jawnsch out.

Jonathan Callison, Copy Editor/Graphic Designer

   I went to Greenwood elementary before it got shut down, then I went to Wacousta, Hayes, and finally here at GLHS. I’ve had many great teachers and great classes throughout all of my years in school. Thank you to those great teachers. However, after all of those years, newspaper ended up as my favorite class. I was in the class for only two years. The class was awesome. We had good times and we had times where we struggled. Each year had different problems that needed conquering and I feel most of us did our best to face those problems head on. At the end of each year, when the dust settled, we could look back on the year and know that we did a great job.

   The first year was great and rough at the same time. I started the year with Ms. Avery and ended it with Mrs. Finkle. Both teachers were great in different ways and tried to help us make the paper great. I only wrote six articles during that year. Shout-out to the great Editor-in-Chief, Wesley Joubert. Wes did what it took to help us end the year on a strong note and it payed off. Seriously, he and I stayed at the school, I left, came back, and we worked until eight p.m. trying to send Grad issue. We had a great staff last year, even though it was small, and we made some great papers.

   Then the second year started. Several of us from the year before were now the editors. We got a new teacher Ms. Wolke and she welcomed us with a smile. The new staff members had to get things figured out, Hannah had to take charge like Wes did, and we had to start writing articles for not just a paper, but an online publication too. The online website turned out really well and most of the new staff members stepped up when needed. Throughout the year, I wrote 24 fantastic articles. I was proud to write that many and I would all over again; the only problem would be coming up with ideas.

    I am proud of all of my articles, especially the ones that won awards. My “Whitetail Hunting Preview” ended up winning a Silver Key Award from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. That was my first award for writing. I won another award at the MIPA awards; I got an Honorable Mention for an illustration. Our newspaper got a Silver Medal at MIPA and our first ever website took home the Gold. That’s amazing for a first year website. I worked really hard on the website and the newspaper with the others, so I feel very proud of what we accomplished. Another thing I did this year was I wrote a few articles for a national magazine called The Young Archer, which was pretty awesome.

   I had a lot of fun writing these articles and really enjoyed my time in newspaper, even though it had its rough moments. It taught me a lot. At first, I was unsure about whether or not to join the class. Thanks mom and dad for pushing me to try it. I used to write short stories when I was little, so I guess I was good at writing because the skill had been there from an early age.

   I will seriously miss newspaper, but I think Ms. Wolke will still have me helping out while I am at CMU. Thanks for the great year Ms. Wolke, Hannah, and the 2019 staff and good luck to next year’s staff.

   I strongly suggest to the reader, do what you are passionate about, whatever it is go and do it, and if you’re passionate about writing, come join The Comets’ Tale Newspaper. Congrats to my fellow graduating classmates of 2019. I’ve written and rewritten this goodbye, I hope I covered everything. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I’m going to pursue my passion in the great outdoors.

Brody Conaty, Opinion Editor

   Throughout my two years as a member of The Comets Tale, I have learned a lot about journalism and had a lot of fun in the meantime. I remember my first class of high school being thrown into Journalism A. From that point on, I developed a connection to newspaper and writing and I haven’t looked back. I’d like to thank all my classmates and all three of my advisors that have helped make this class an enjoyment day in and day out.

    Enough about me though. One anonymous person in the class relied on me too heavily. His name is Jawnsch. If I had to describe Jawnsch I would say he’s a bonafide scrub. He can’t play. No disrespect whatsoever, but I’m sorry to go and tell everybody the truth– the man cannot play the game of newspaper.

    Another classmate whose name I won’t say, whose name is Noah, has proven multiple times he doesn’t know newspaper. He just got caught. If I had to describe him in a few simple phrases, I’d say he stinks. Let me just get that out the way. He stinks.

   I know I have already called out a few people, but I am not done yet. Two new writers came to this class this year, and even though I won’t name their names, Ethan and Austin had me hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, ran amok, and flat out deceived. Every time they would come to me, searching for even an ounce of knowledge, I would let them know that I am so sick of these people. Yanno? Ughhhhhh.

   Clearly, with these peers, I have been asked to carry much of the load in this classroom. It has taken a toll on my health, but I will still miss watching Despacito Battle and arguing about mock drafts and meaningless preseason polls with the Pound.

Glenn Horne, Staff Writer

Being in newspaper has been a great experience. Even though I was only in here for a trimester, it’s something that I wish I would have done earlier in my high school career. I made friends that I’ll never forget, and experiences that I’ll remember forever. Thank you newspaper!

Noah Housler, News Editor

   After two years in newspaper, lots of articles written (some even published), not many ads sold, and new clowns created, this class has changed a lot from the first day I came in to now. With just one week left of high school I am realizing how much of an impact this class made on me. Everyday at 10:23 myself, and other yet to be named clowns enter the laboratory ready to give outrageous takes about sports and just about anything else with the Google docs screen open. Sometimes founders of newspaper such as Jawnsch, Brody, and myself reflect on when we had fun and high grades in newspaper last year. When we talk about the old days, new members like Ethan and The Mac wonder how such a class could have existed. This year Brody, Jawnsch, Ethan, The Mac, along with myself, even started our own podcast, so the world could hear the dialogues and agendas pushed on a day to day basis in the lab. In the last two  years we have had three advisors which made the class a bit hectic sometimes but the pound and two elite EIC’s always kept things under control. I now know more about journalism, writing, and design, but I also know a lot more about obscure sports statistics and playing 2048, so I would say that is two years well spent.

Ethan Irish, Staff Writer

   My senior year is finally coming to an expected end and my legacy will live on throughout future years in the newspaper classroom. Hopping in the lab daily has gotten to my head and the time has come for my article writing to come to a close. I will miss this class and all of the memories the Dawg Pound has created. When people ask what went on in this class I give them the full truth which is, do not attach any association of this to me whatsoever. I had nothing to do with such idiocy. Such blasphemy. Such ridiculous nonsense. This is so disrespectful.

   In the class we tried to make everything more entertaining and I applaud Ms. Wolke and the rest of the class for putting up with the pound day in and day out. Even when we made them mad, they went through their daily work as if it was nothing and it made my newspaper experience a lot more enjoyable.

Austin McCartney, Staff Writer

    After arriving to the laboratory on a consistent basis during the 2018-19 school year, it is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to the Comets’ Tale newspaper. Even though most of the year I needed no help as I lifted the newspaper onto my back and carried it for miles, there were instances in which my fellow pupils were there by my side, guiding me to the pinnacle of success. I would like to thank a certain group of scholars in particular who trained me to be who I am today. Brody, Josh, Ethan, and Noah worked with me throughout the entire year, collecting all of the stones and becoming inevitable to all of the newspaper. Hopefully next year my legacy can be passed down and honored respectfully.

Sydney Mullett, Staff Writer

  To be frank, I did not spend a whole lot of time in the Newsroom, and for that I have a lot of regret. I joined these hooligans by chance this year, was accidentally exposed to the “Dawg Pound”, and befriended a few of the silliest kiddos I have ever met.

  Writing is something I have always loved to do, mostly because no one wants to hear me verbally go on my rants, ever since I was a wee little Syd. Having the Comet’s Tale to put down into words the importance of specific topics that I am passionate about and used that for informing the population on what I and many others deem relevant.

  I would like to thank Wolke, for her allowance of me to hit larger issues rather than smaller opinion pieces, covering topics along the lines of mental health and the dangers it can bring to our society, and even our community is something ignored for centuries. This class has taught me to explore what interests me, to take time and find what drives me. It was in this class I decided to continue my career in language at Michigan State University where I look to study to become an English Literature and Language teacher, either in Maine or Ireland.

  To the incoming Comet’s Tale crew, have fun, write stories that matter not just in Grand Ledge, but in the world. Yeah the paper is underread, but if you feed them stories that they want to hear, we can involve the GLHS students in the community and our world. Utilize that draw to spread intellect, and knowledge rather than just silly opinion articles over trivial things, it is a power that plenty of News sources abuse. Be an honest reporter, and give Wolke something to be proud of.

Raven Nava, Ad Sales Manager

   So, even though this has been my only year in newspaper, it felt like I’ve been here my entire high school career. Even though there has been some ups and downs, we all managed to worked together just to make our papers look alright. I know I will miss walking in everyday hearing Rob and John arguing about something so stupid like how much Rob hates parades. I’ll miss seeing Hannah scowl at me every time I bring in nachos with sour cream into class during lunch. I’ll even miss the Dog Pound yelling “Chief!” every time Ms. Wolke tells them to do their work. This class has given me so many great memories that it’s insane that I’ve actually remembered some of them!

    Before I start this senior goodbye, I just wanna say thank you to everyone who helped me out with any of my articles. Whether it be for an interview or just an opinion on a photo or graphic, I just wanna say I appreciate the help and I couldn’t have written my articles without you guys.

   As I think of everything that has happened in the newsroom, I can definitely say that Rob has been in about every single one of them. From shattering the french press, tripping and almost breaking one of the lights in the backroom, to even raging on about his hatred for parades, he really has made newspaper feel like home. Yeah, I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Rob was the one to help me out whenever it came to an advertisement issue or whenever I needed to interview someone for an article of mine. Rob also knew how to make me laugh, just by him messing up and also getting beaten up by an 8 year old at the skatepark! Rob will always be the one to help out but remember something, John (who is graduating) will always keep the point board up to date even after we graduate!

    Next up on this goodbye list is to John. I just really wanna say thank you for critiquing my articles and making them look even better than before. That includes my worst articles as well like the Bandersnatch article. I hope you continue to create graphics once you’re at CMU and show everyone that your hunting articles are spectacular even if you still can’t get a Best of SNO award.

   The first trimester of newspaper was alright but it got better during the second trimester because I’ve met two more amazing students, Glenn and Kelly. They both have helped me through a lot, whether it be all of us trying to prove a point to Rob that movies with time traveling in it are really cool, or explaining to me how the Lord of the Rings are good movies (By the way, it sucked. Sorry guys). If you ever needed any good fashion advice or a book recommendation, Kelly is the one to go to. Wanna know more about a movie? Go to Glenn. I honestly wished I could have met them earlier, which is funny because I could have with how many paths we’ve crossed. Anyways, thank you guys so much and I cannot wait to see what you guys do in the future!

   Last but not least on this goodbye list goes to Hannah and Mikayla. I would have never joined newspaper if it wasn’t for you guys. With everything that has happened this year, you guys managed to stay by my side and for that I wanna thank you. You both believed in me when I wanted to give up on an article or any assignment for that matter. I’m so grateful for you two being my best friends. I know you will do amazing on your photographies Mikayla and you’re gonna be amazing in your classes at CMU Hannah. We had great memories this year with all three of us, let me know if you wanna make more after high school! Thank you for this year Hannah and Mikayla! Go for thank God we are done!

   With everything that has happened this year, like winning the Silver Key award from the Scholastic Arts and Writing program, none of that could have happened without any of these people that I’ve mentioned. My advice for next year would be just have fun. Get to know everyone in the room because you never know, you might meet someone who will blow your mind in that classroom. Also, don’t be a Rob. We don’t need another one! Thank you Ms. Wolke and Ms. Lee for letting me be a part of your class. It was an experience I will never forget! Now if you all will excuse me, I have a graduation to attend to!