This school year has marked a significant chapter for the PPCHS newspaper that has received an abundance of recognitions and awards. However, the level of success the CHAT has been able to achieve this year wouldn’t have been possible without the unwavering dedication and passion that 2024 Co-Managing Editor Kara Warren has provided for the content class.

Walking into Mr. Fagen’s Journalism 1 class as a freshman, Warren was completely unaware of the fact she would be walking into the same class for all four years of her high school career. Flashforward to her sophomore year, Warren shares, “I joined the CHAT not having a specific position in mind. I simply joined because I loved writing, and it was something I liked to do.” Finding this class to be one where she would be able to grow and practice her writing skills, Kara decided on officially becoming part of the CHAT staff. 

Working hard and diligently, her skills led to her to becoming the Clubs section editor her junior year which she found to be one of the most rewarding and entertaining sections to be a part of. “Becoming an editor definitely helped a lot on a personal level. One it allowed me to socialize with other people I wouldn’t have originally thought of approaching and second it improved my own writing skills,” she explains. Soon enough, at the end of her junior year, Kara was selected as Co-Managing Editor for the 2023-2024 school year. 

As she made her way to her third year in the CHAT as a senior, Kara was now ready to take leadership over the class alongside Co-Managing Editor Daniel Morrison and Editor-In-Chief Valerie Questell. In the beginning Warren expresses, “I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be teaching because I was always the student not the teacher. On the first day, I looked around the room and I didn’t know anyone’s name.” This quickly changed for Warren as she spent more and more time with the new students who made up the class. 

As the year progressed, Warren continued walking into class every day with a smile on her face and an enthusiastic attitude that encouraged everyone around her. The traditions that the newspaper provided her throughout the years remained special, but one memory will remain a top favorite for her. 

“Spring FSPA is always the best! During the school year we are a class, but once we are out of that environment it feels like we are a family. I know everyone so much more than I did before the trip. Every part of it is just so good and the opportunities that it gives you are simply unmatchable,” Warren exclaims. 

Thankful for all the experiences and lessons the CHAT was able to provide her with, she emphasizes one that she will carry on with her even outside of the doors of the classroom. That is being able to delegate and collaborate with her peers who each have individual styles of writing and different ways of communication.  “In the three years I’ve been here, I’ve seen seniors come and leave and I have seen sophomores come and join. Every year has been different, and it has been able to teach me how to work with so many different people.”

As an outstanding leader and passionate writer, Warren has learned that the key to success is through balance. Keeping a balance between schoolwork and friendships will be able to open the door to a high school experience that isn’t surrounded by anxiety. Making a list of priorities and goals that want to be accomplished can facilitate the workload that is experienced in high school. Doing this, she describes herself as “someone who doesn’t put that much pressure on herself.”

“I really just do what I want to get complete, and that productivity makes me feel good. So, whenever I am able to help someone else or assist in any sort of project, I feel accomplished.” That confident and consistent mentality has been able to help Warren in her role as Co-Managing Editor and also a high schooler preparing for college. 

Being part of a class that requires constant communication and collaboration, Warren encourages her peers to just “interact with the class and have fun.” Although the CHAT newspaper requires a strong work ethic and a consistent writing of stories, she advises not to “let it just be about writing because it’s not at all just about writing. It’s about the people.” As her time in the CHAT has come to an end, the people she has met along the way and built relationships with is what Warren will carry with her even after graduation. 

She wholeheartedly admits, “I don’t want to leave because I’ve made all these connections with everyone in not only content class, but also in the digital and yearbook classes. Although it’s hard to say goodbye, I’m grateful for the memories I have been able to create here.”

Officially committed to the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Warren is ready for the next chapter of her life. Majoring in Biology and pursuing the study of environmental science, Warren is excited to see herself in this career path that requires extensive research. She remains confident she will be successful in this realm thanks to the CHAT newspaper. “All the writing done over the years has conditioned me and trained me for just that. I am not worried at all for the future. I’m really excited and it’s just another opportunity to show off everything that I have learned here.”

As Kara Warren graduates and officially becomes a PPCHS alumna, her legacy will remain in the hearts of all the people she has touched throughout her four years in room C117. Her passion for writing and devotion to helping others has shaped her into the outstanding leader she will continue to be recognized as. 

As she waves her last goodbye to the PPCHS newspaper class and looks back to think if it was worth taking all throughout high school, it is without an unwavering doubt that she says, “Yes. I would not trade it for anything else. I loved it here. It was just like a family.”