written by Chris Lenerz
Columbia University, Friday, March 18, 2018 — I still get emotional thinking about it — It was the day that it really hit me how strong of a bond I form with my journalism kids
I was there with a couple dozen Torch and yearbook students for the annual Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) convention. It was around noon, and we had just come out of a standing-room-only auditorium, where the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, had just finished participating in a panel discussion.
Just over a month earlier, those students had been hiding in a closet with their adviser while a gunman killed 17 students and staff on Valentine’s Day.
I knew both their yearbook and newspaper advisers from serving on the board of the Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) with them.
There had not been a dry eye in the auditorium as the students recounted their harrowing ordeal and its aftermath. And, all I kept thinking was “What if those had been my kids?”
As soon as we got into the hallway, I gathered all my students and said I needed a group hug. We held each other in silence for a few minutes and cried. I love my kids—my journalism kids
Since 2012, I’ve had the privilege of not only working with some of the best kids on campus, but really getting to know them. When you spend four years (five and six with some of the kids who started in middle school journalism) with students, you really get to know them.
You share in their triumphs — awards, college acceptances, promposals, and you try to be there for them in their struggles — college rejections, bad test scores, bad breakups. We laugh, we cry, we drink Starbucks on press nights. And I’ve shared my struggles and victories with them — not to burden
them, but to let them know that life is a process; you never fully figure it out, you just keep learning and trying to do the next right thing.
I’ve stayed in touch with dozens of my journalism kids over the years.
They send me links to their stories on their college newspapers, texts telling me about jobs they’ve gotten, and congratulatory messages when they see that the current students have won an award.
Being the journalism teacher has meant so much more to me than making sure we put out good publications. It’s been about building community, helping students find their passion and their people.
More than any of the All-Florida’s we’ve won, I will remember the trips to NY and Orlando, the Torch camping trips my daughter started, the yearbook end-of-year banquets, the smiles, the tears, the
dancing (Ice, Ice, Baby!).
I’m so fortunate to have had many students tell me what a difference I’ve made in their lives over the years, but I’d like to take a moment to tellyou all what a difference you’ve made in mine. I’ve learned so, so much from all of you. I am a better person for having gotten to know you.
My superpower isn’t being an amazing teacher, it’s in trusting and believing in kids. And these kids have been the absolute best.
Love, Big Len
