As Co-Editor-in-Chief and Design Editor, junior Uzoamaka Onuorah is riding into her second year with The “Rosette Media” with hope. With Alea, the Louise to her Tina, and Caro, her Gene, by her side, Onuorah is bursting with excitement when she thinks of all the possibilities this year holds. She’s ready to lead the staff next to her pink bunny-eared ringleader and her yellow-shirt wearing loudmouth. Her glasses are fully tinted pink when she thinks of how great this year will be with such an amazing staff that’s full of potential. When she’s not staying up late to edit their work late into the night, she’s staying up late to finish assignments late into the night (who told bro to be such an overachiever and take so many AP classes?? oh wait, herself…), eating, reading books, listening to music, watching movies and shows, and daydreaming about love, like the hopeless romantic she is. But she can most often be found giggling with Alea and Caro, and Sidhu, their biggest cheerleader. Onuorah will forever be grateful for the day she met Sidhu, her greatest mentor, because it led her to meeting these people, making such great memories, and growing her skills as a person every day. She absolutely can’t wait !
The Road to Rosette:
Uzoamaka Onuorah uncovers her true love for newspaper.
Reported by: Wendy Jaimes
The new world of writing and reading, rushing to meet the deadline. Learning and undergoing new experiences, junior Uzoamaka Onuorah walks through the stages of being a Rosette.
Onuorah shares about her time in the Rosette Media where she marks her 2 years in, sharing the high and lows of being in newspaper.
“I really like reading books and articles and writing,” Onuorah said. “I thought this is a really great opportunity to be able to do what I love while at school so I joined the school newspaper because I saw the opportunity in eighth grade.”
Onuorah found a new sense of achievement in newspaper.
“I felt really welcomed,” Onuorah said. “It’s been a learning curve. It was a lot of information to take in, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a very good feeling of accomplishment when you finish a project. I feel really hopeful about Newspaper because I feel like we’ve just kept growing as an organization.”
Onuorah had to learn the ropes of becoming a family.
“I think the most memorable thing I learned is that team effort is a big role,” Onuorah said. “I started to grow more based on the feedback other people would give my stories. You can’t do a newspaper story alone. I learned that I would have to really get to know people and be very involved in the group. Being in this new organization really helped me get out of my comfort zone and really get to know everybody. The editor-in-chiefs last year helped me realize that this is more than a club. It’s a group family where everyone has each other’s back.”
Onuorah had to learn from and conquer her biggest challenge yet.
“What I found really difficult was not all of your ideas get brought to life,” Onuorah said, “so I found it really challenging to have an idea that wasn’t possible to do at that time, or I would present it and it wouldn’t be a good news- worthy idea to write about. You have to get used to rejection. When you’re writing, people will tell you that you have mistakes or false information in your story. You have to learn to take criticism well. Once I was able to overcome that, it became a lot easier to accept the commentary about my work. I learned to make something worthy out of it.”
Onuorah wants to help her peers place in UIL and learn how fun it can truly be.
“When we compete in UIL, I want to help get everyone in Newspaper to at least place,” Onuorah said. “I want to really help everyone compete well, because I feel like last year everyone was so new, they weren’t confident in their writing. They didn’t really get to experience how fun UIL can be once you get past district and go to region. I really feel we would be able to connect more as a group.”
To Onuorah, Newspaper is always a time to have fun and let loose by making unforgettable memories.
“Many of my fond memories were made during our potlucks,” Onuorah said. “I’ll always think of those memories, because I feel like they’re really turning points in my time here. They really brought me quite close to everyone.”
Pushed by her peers, Onuorah welcomes the idea of becoming Editor-in-Chief.
“I actually didn’t decide to be Editor-in-Chief,” Onuorah said. “Caro and Sidhu talked to me about it. They said that I have the potential to be a leader. By them telling me, that really made me question whether I could really be Editor-in Chief, so I started to warm up to the idea and went ahead and took the challenge.”
Onuorah learns what it truly means to be a leader.
“So far it’s been really challenging because I like to lead,” Onuorah said. “So I have to prepare myself, and remind myself it’s too late, it’s too soon, but I’m in it now and there’s no going back.”
