The importance of highlighting a young person’s creativity onto the world is one of great magnitude. A voice reflecting a mind that has much to give. However, it is often true that there are no outlets where student voices can share their stories with the world. These words are then left in notebooks and computer drafts, never to be seen again.

The Teen Scene is a publication that prevents that. Seeking out students who write and encouraging them to go out and adventure, not only within their communities, but helping them dive deeper into discovering their creative ability.

During my Graduate year at Brunswick County Early College, I was encouraged to join the Teen Scene writing team as my Graduate Internship, recommended by one of the school’s English teachers. I was intrigued as I had only published there once before when I wrote a short story based off of a song. However, I was a little anxious when I got my first Zoom invite with all of the writers to discuss new ideas for the year. I prayed that I could just coast on through without saying a word.

I would soon learn that I would be doing a lot of talking that year.

What I thought would be just writing articles turned into a discovery of what we could do as a team and what skills we wanted to push ourselves to achieve. Not only would we write articles, but we were also encouraged to go out and do interviews, practice in front of a camera, and be prepared to make a project to show in front of an audience at the End of Year Cape Fear Voices and Teen Scene Banquet. I was extremely hesitant since Public Speaking and speaking in front of a camera sounded like my worst nightmares come to life, but I ended up pushing that aside and trying it out.

And you know what, it was so much fun! During this year I did so many things I never even imagined I would ever do.

I conducted my first interview ever with Chris Rogers, the owner of Gio Fund. Even though I was nervous, I would say that it went pretty well and made a pretty good article. It had also prepared me for what was coming next.

Behind the scenes, the Teen Scene writing team kept preparing for the banquet, while also juggling our school and personal responsibilities. Gabriel, Josie, Sophie, John, Makayla, and I worked tirelessly to practice speaking in front of a camera with the help of Mr. Decker, Jan, and Nancy. These weekly meetings had truly improved my ability to not only speak in front of a camera, but how to present myself to an audience.

Gabriel and I had also attended the Gullah Geechee Rice Festival. This was an amazing experience where I would say we both learned a lot and I really enjoyed every experience during this event! With Gabriel speaking to others and my camera work, we were able to interview many members who were speakers or who were running booths to learn more about the Festival, including Queen Quet!

As the banquet was approaching, we worked on our final projects to show to the audience. I completed a personal statement about who I was and how Teen Scene helped me, interviewed Jan Lydon from First Bank, and interviewed and edited my own video speaking to one of my best friends, Juliet, about her major in Public Relations and how it relates to her writing journey.

When the banquet came and we got to watch our final products, I was so proud! I looked back at all of the hard work we put in during the year to get to this moment and I was thankful for all of the skills I had grown.

Currently, I am majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing at North Carolina State University. I have been enjoying my time here where I am learning new things and meeting new people. However, even though I have moved away and am working on new things, I am so thankful for the time I spent with the Teen Scene!

They taught me that I am more than just my limitations, and that I can do anything as long as I practice and put myself out there to learn more. In the beginning of last year, I thought that my strong suit would always just be writing, and I never thought I would be good at speaking in front of a group or a camera. Nevertheless, I was proved wrong when we practiced each week and I could see general improvements. I did and experienced so many new things thanks to the Teen Scene that I will never take for granted.

Even though the Teen Scene may not always be around, the impacts and lessons that they taught their writers will always be carried throughout their lives.