Dear Fieldston News Readers,
For those of you who have (or have not) read my articles and do not know me, my name is Francesca Grossberg, I use she/her pronouns, and, up until this morning, I was a student at Fieldston for thirteen years.
If you had told me at any point in those first eleven years that I would become an Editor-in-Chief of Fieldston’s oldest student newspaper, I would have probably laughed. On the first day of ninth grade, I nervously walked across the quad sporting a black t-shirt and denim skirt. I knew I liked science and maybe history, but I had no idea who I was or who I wanted to become. At the club fair, I hastily walked past the crowded Fieldston News table. That seemed like a job for someone else — someone who wanted to spend their free time writing.
Now, here I sit, 3:30 on a Saturday, writing a goodbye and thank you note to the publication that has given me some of the best experiences in high school. In tenth grade, a friend of mine told me that she had fun writing for the news, so I decided to try it and went to the first virtual meeting during remote school. I sat nervously waiting for an article that I thought would be doable, and signed up for an article about how students and alumni were getting involved in the 2020 presidential election. My first live interview was over the phone with an alum working on the Biden-Harris campaign. Even though he was only four years older than me, I probably sweated out five pounds.
Throughout the rest of sophomore year, I recreationally wrote articles whenever I had time, but the News wasn’t a huge commitment yet. I had enjoyed my English classes in both ninth and tenth grade, and decided to sign up for journalism. Over the summer, the Fieldston News instagram put out a statement that they were looking for someone to run their social media. My experimentation with Canva was enough to get me the job, so I began attending staff meetings and signing up to write articles over the break.
My real peak with writing for the News came in the fall of junior year. I averaged writing at least one article a week: one for journalism class and one or two on assignment for the News. Around this time I started really putting myself out there to get interviews. The first journalism assignment was about the “heart and soul” of your neighborhood. Mr. Montera told me to get out into the field, so I went to Fort Tryon Park’s Heather Garden and aimlessly roamed for an hour with my phone and a notebook, trying to make conversation with strangers who were looking at the flowers. I got two or three quotes and tried talking to over twenty people, and I left feeling like every interaction was a resounding success. Writing the article was rewarding in its own way: I was learning more about something I was genuinely interested in, something I chose because I wanted to know more about.
So I continued to write and reach out for interviews. In journalism, we had an assignment about the “Next Big Thing” in a field we were interested in. Throughout the pandemic I had become interested in epidemiology and public health, so I wrote about the newly approved Malaria vaccine. I was able to get an interview with an infectious diseases expert who spent much of her career doing field work in West Africa conducting trials. The research I had done before the meeting was pretty limited to the vaccine, and I’ll admit that I was pretty confused. She spoke to me like her intellectual equal, eloquently detailing the malaria life cycle with words that I couldn’t even spell. Since then I have learned how to both ask follow up questions to pinpoint confusion and how to nod along, knowing that my own research can guide my writing after an interview. I have written several articles on various other topics, from sports to operas to student events, but something about being able to design my own unique intersection of science and the humanities continuously made me want to sit down and write. I went on to write about public health and the migration crisis in Lampedusa and the monkeypox epidemic.
Around this time, my beloved classmate Sophia Gutierrez was about to leave for a semester away school. Mr. Montera approached me in the library, pulled me aside, and asked if I could step in as interim Editor-in-Chief, stating it would be like a “trial run” for the following year. I shook his hand and ecstatically rushed out of the library to math class. I quickly became acquainted with the managing side of the news: emailing writers, posting articles, and coordinating printing. I would come home excited to spend some time organizing and editing — working to improve something and inform the masses. I owe so much of my managing experience to Mr. Montera, who always ensured that I balanced the News with my other work. One week, he noticed that I was spending hours posting and emailing, and pulled me aside to ask me if I was caught up on my other work. When I revealed that I had a physics test the following day, he told me to take the night off. When one night turned into many, he sent me emails signing off “grrrrrr/montera.”
As spring turned to summer and summer to fall, I began to ease into the college process. More overwhelmed than ever, I relied on my amazing co-editors and Mr. Montera, to whom I delegated tasks and leaned on for advice. When I had less time to write, I focused on editing and communicating with staff. I hope I helped younger writers find their voices and a place in journalism at the News.
Even though I fell in love with journalism at Fieldston, it is not the path I plan on pursuing professionally. Mr. Montera always encouraged me to speak to professionals, and it was ultimately these conversations with doctors and public health experts that solidified an interest in medicine. My exposure to the intersection of science and writing at The Fieldston News has introduced me to scientific journalism and writing as a career path. When I told Mr. Montera about my plans and course of study post-graduation, he said “medicine has always been a healing art, I believe that of teaching too and I believe that of journalism.” I plan on continuing to engage with journalism in college, perhaps as a staff member, perhaps on the side. Regardless of what the future holds, I will definitely always use and appreciate the networking, writing, and managing skills that I have gained during my time at The Fieldston News.
Now I find myself between institutions and preparing to start over again. I have a better idea of who I am than I did at the beginning of high school, with much credit to the News, but I still have much to learn over these coming years. To anyone still reading this, I wish I had concrete wisdom that I could share with you. I feel so lucky to have found something that I was so passionate about in high school, and to have been surrounded by such incredible peers and mentors to guide me and challenge me. There is no golden ticket to success, but finding something that makes you want to keep going and start a new project makes the work so much more fun and real. Keep trying new things until something sticks.
With lots of love and even more appreciation,
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus,
Francesca Grossberg
