By Isabelle Termath, Staff Writer
Get to know Lyle Weems, a junior on campus, one of the new staffers for Poly High School’s Spotlight Newspaper.
When asked what prompted her to join the newspaper, Lyle replies, “my brother did it previous to me” and explains how highly he spoke of it. She’s hoping that she can also utilize this as a resource to help improve her writing skills, sense she acknowledges that it can be helpful to be in a community where others, her fellow staff writers and herself, are invested in and care for the material published to the students of Poly.
What she most looks forward to reporting on is academic related activities and clubs. She was surprised to learn about Poly’s 66 clubs, and wondered what each one could possibly be for. “I didn’t even know we had that many,” she jokes, and hopes to put more emphasis on what smaller clubs are doing on campus. At the moment, she claims she does not wish to cover athletic activities since she is “not huge on sports,” and would much rather focus on different areas of interest when it comes to reporting and representing the students at Poly High School.
With this new endeavor of joining the newspaper, it prompts the question of whether all other aspects of high school live up to what Lyle imagined. She admits that the everyday happenings are not nearly as melodramatic as what she was expecting based off of “horror stories” she heard about other schools. When one sees the same people year after year, it can leave them feeling almost “bored,” as she puts it. She makes a quick mention of how cliques can become an issue when the same people repeatedly have class together. However, this doesn’t necessarily have to be a large issue for her, as she chooses to focus on her academics.
Finding motivation for school can be tricky, and many derive it from various places. For some, it could be approval, while for others, merely just to get it over with. For Lyle, it stems from slight competition. “I’m not trying to fall behind the people around me,” she states, and elaborates on how it is her grades that are her biggest motivator at the end of the day, which certainly many of her fellow bears can relate to.
For Lyle and many others, being a junior means potentially considering what one might want to do after high school. This could apply to any aspect of life. When it comes to what she wants to pursue, she has “no clue,” she admits light-heartedly. But it’s barely the start of her junior year, and there is plenty of time before she has to worry about any of that. Aside from that, she has hopes of traveling out of the country. While she would indeed like to go anywhere, she made mention of Europe. A list of countries lies in her Notes app on her phone, waiting to be visited. Hopefully, after Lyle has graduated, she will be able to realize that dream.
A new staff member for the Poly Spotlight Newspaper doesn’t just mean a new face or name. It means a new view, not just on what goes on at Poly High School, but also the larger community of Riverside, and even the world as a whole. A new staff member can bring new insight into what goes on unreported on campus, a fresh perspective, and an addition to the newspaper’s legacy, all of which, no doubt, Lyle can offer.