Class of 2009 Essays

Finding His Voice

Joining the Teen2Teen team
stretched his writing muscles.

Seth Samuels

Teen2Teen Staff Writer

I

would like to start off by expressing
how fortunate I am to have had this
opportunity to write for such a won-
derful publication. It is without a doubt an
institution with a reputable following, and
being able to contribute to the readership
is truly an honor.
While creative Ivriting, was always some-
thing I enjoyed, my high school newspaper
was the first organization with which I
fused this form of writing with the art of
journalism. I had the opportunity to write
stories relevant to the happenings of our
school, work with editors and, of course,
have my name published. These were all
very exciting facets of my first team at
Groves — the Scriptor — and I antici-
pated many years and stories to come.
Nonetheless, after some sleepless
deadline days, miscommunications and
deterioration of what I once thought of
as the Groves golden standard, my time
on the Scriptor came to an abrupt end.
Yet my passion for writing, especially in
a journalistic style, remained. I improved
the techniques taught to me and I learned
new forms of expression in my classes.
My English teachers inspired me to go
for more, testing the limits of my ability
to wave a pen and press keys. I felt some-

thing special began to brew. Despite my
departure from the school newspaper, it
seemed that my passion for sharing work
through words was greater than ever.
About midway into my sophomore year,
I found an issue of the IN on the counter
waiting for me when I got home. Normally,
my morn devours the stories as soon as
they land in her mailbox and then the
issue ends up in one of two places — the
recycle bin if there was nothing stagger-
ing, or in a basket in the library with past
issues (along with a call to my grand-
mother for discussion).
However, the kitchen counter was a new
resting place for the beloved newspaper,
so, intrigued by what I thought was simply
a misplacement, I opened it up, only to
find one of the first issues of Teen2Teen.
Featured was Hadas Corey as well as sev-
eral other teen writers who wrote about
the latest b'nai mitzvot, dear Torahs and
other teen-centric issues.
Not only was the style of writing very
different from that of Danny Raskin, a
Samuels family favorite, but even the
bright green and electric blue color
scheme stood out. Moreover, Hadas was
a friend of mine, and my desire to write
for a new publication seemed to guide
me towards my first meeting at the office,
after which I received a warm welcome
by other staffers and an assignment for a

Seth Samuels in a dream car from a T2T story

feature story.
The rest is indeed history, ranging
from press week at the North American
International Auto Show to inaugurations.
We've had meetings, developed a Web site
and created what I believe to be a new
following for the IN. And no with insti-
tutions such as Detroit Public TV taking
notice and wanting to add video journal-
ism to the mix, there is plenty of progress
to be made. But it all starts with the work
of those on staff, as that's what lured me to
come in the first place.
I shall continue to contribute to this
special part of the IN from my dorm room
in Ann Arbor, and I'm excited for T2T's
road ahead (as well as my own)! I'm so
thankful to be part of this group of talent-
ed writers, photographers and contribu-

tors, and it has truly been a memorable
experience.
I would like to thank all of my teachers
who have instilled in me the knowledge
and possibilities of writing, all of you for
reading our work, the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit for its generous sup-
port of T2T and, of course, my editor, Keri
Guten Cohen, who gave me the opportu-
nity to join a new team.

Seth Samuels. 18, is

a recent graduate of

Birmingham Groves High

School and will attend

the University of Michigan

this fall.

Leaving The Nest

Making the transition from Akiva class of 11 to U-M class of 10,000.

Sarah Spitzer
Teen2Teen Staff Writer

T

he move from my little religious
day school of Yeshivat Akiva in
Southfield to the secular world of
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is
going to be one big transition. I've always
been so used to being surrounded by my
little network, my little community: I have
my little school that I have been a part of
for 13 years; I have my shul community; I
have a web of relatives and family friends;
and I have my family of six, with two in
college, and two cats, two dogs, two birds
and a hamster.

A28

June 11 • 2009

Now, as I graduate high school, I have
about two months to collect myself and get
ready for the big move. To a strange new
world. All on my own. OK, so maybe not com-
pletely on my own — home is just a phone
(-All or about an hour drive away; but still, it's
pretty alone. All by myself in an off-campus
apartment. Alone. With no one. OK, except
my cat. But, to quote my best friend,"Sarah,
don't turn into a crazy cat lady on me."
What am I going to do? In a way. I'm a
wreck.
But actually, I'm really not. I know the
prospect of going off to live on your own
can be scary, but its also really exciting.
That world of unknown may seem like the

scary dark that used to haunt you before
bed every night; but, hey, in the end, didn't
that scary shape just turn out to be that
sweater you forgot to hang up? I know you
didn't get gobbled up by monsters because,
quite frankly, if you had, you wouldn't be
reading this. So yes, the prospect of going
off to college might be a bit scary but, in
truth, I'm really just so excited.
That little community, that bubble You
used to live in, that web that caught your
fall maybe more often than You would have
liked — they're all still there for You. And

they always will be. Yes, so maybe you're
getting shoved out of the nest and told to
fly and suddenly you realize that there's
more to the world than dried twigs and
worms; but hey, I gotta
tell you — from up here,
the view is great.

Sarah Spitzer, 18, a recent

Yeshivat Akiva graduate,

will attend the University

of Michigan this fall.

Watch for teen teen in the June 25 Jewish News

