I, Autumn Mann, a member of SharkScene for the last four years of my St Louis High School education have dedicated almost all of my life and thoughts to this class. I have been a writer for two years then was promoted to editor for my junior and senior years. 

When it comes to Journalism, the one thing I’ll remember is the constant screaming of Mr. Kuhn. Oh, I also cannot forget the fact that this class has made me the person I am. Despite the screaming and the criticism that can come from Mr. Kuhn, being in this class has brought me many laughs and pushed me out of my comfort zone. 

In all honesty, these last four years in this class have been the best. When Tyson and I first started, we were clueless freshmen. Freshmen NEVER were supposed to be in class, and we both got a constant reminder of that. However, for whatever reason Kuhn believed in us. Maybe it was Tyson’s extremely good looks and his charm or maybe it was just fate to be in this class. 

I’ll never regret the day I stepped into that class as a nervous, quiet freshman alongside Tyson. Without Tyson, I believe I wouldn’t have lasted as long as I did. I’ll forever be grateful for Tyson and the way our friendship grew. He will be one person I’ll tell my future grandkids about and forever will remember the way Kuhn and Tyson would bicker back and forth. We also can’t forget about Mr. Kuhn being the best wingman for Tyson, who tried every year to get Tyson a date. Tyson is one person who will forever be in your life, and you’ll never forget about him. I learned if I didn’t act like Tyson I wouldn’t get yelled at. Just kidding, well, kinda…. Anyway, without Tyson, I don’t know who I’d be because, in all honesty, he and Mr. Kuhn really did shape a part of who I am today and who I’ll be in the future.

While in the newspaper class, I learned about what I want to do for my future. This class opened my eyes to new experiences and our school. Without this class, I believe I would still be that quiet kid who stood on the sidelines while everyone else was living their high school experience. This class pushed me to be involved in SLHS and pushed me to be open to anything that comes my way. I fell in love with photography and I thrived off the criticism Mr. Kuhn would give me because I wanted to be better and improve my skills. Photography made me a part of our school and pushed me to engage with people who I never expected to be close with or even talk to. One thing I will also be excited about is the photo challenges we did in class. A little advice for future Shark Scene members: never ever say picture. You will be reminded on a daily basis that in that class, we are photographers and we take PHOTOS, not pictures.  

If it wasn’t for Kuhn, I don’t believe that I would have found my future in photography. I’ve always loved Photography, but I didn’t think I was even remotely good or even imagined that I could make a career out of photography. 

Another thing I’ll always remember is the way Mr. Kuhn pushed me to believe in myself, others around me, and even my insecurities. He taught me to believe in my talent and to better myself. I used to believe I couldn’t do anything or that I didn’t belong. Mr. Kuhn’s class teaches you that you do belong and he shows you how you can get along with those who believe and think differently.

Mr. Kuhn may seem scary; he will yell; he will not lie to make you feel better, but he will be there for you when you need it and teach you life lessons without even knowing it. To some, Mr. Kuhn may just be a teacher, however, for Tyson and I, Kuhn will forever be a part of our lives and be someone we will never forget. 

Being in that class has led me to make incredible connections with people who I probably would have just passed in the hallway without a second thought. Take Aaron Bowerman for example. He is an interesting guy and I’m so glad I got to experience Mr. Bowerman and his wonderful personality.  

Or take Keegan Honig, who if it wasn’t for him, this class probably would have burned to the ground. Honig kept this class going and was Mr. Kuhn’s golden student (reasonably so). If it wasn’t for Honig, Kuhn would have lost his marbles a long time ago when creating this class. Honig and the others will be people I’ll look back to and think about how they pushed me to do better and made me believe in myself.

Now for a little advice to surviving Mr. Kuhn and his class. Don’t take what is said in that class to heart. Everyone in there wants to see you succeed and believes in you and your skills, especially, Mr. Kuhn. It may seem like this class is the worst, but I promise you it’s worth it. You’ll have your ups and downs. You’ll miss deadlines and take horrible photos. Kuhn will yell at you, and he will push you to do better because he knows you can do it. Don’t give up on this class because it’s hard and it’s stressful. Don’t dwell on the fact you have over 50 corrections on your paper in bright red ink. Do better. Instead, next time make 20 corrections. Trust me, that red ink can be traumatizing, but don’t let it bring you down. You know what you did wrong, so fix it. You missed the perfect shot, find the next perfect shot. Don’t let your failures and your mistakes drag you down in this class because once you dig yourself a hole, you may never get back out because Kuhn and others in that class will not be afraid to call you out. 

The people in this class will become those who you need to socialize with and communicate with on a daily basis. If you don’t like them, you have to forget about that because we are in it together and without each other, there would be no Shark Scene to bring to our school. Be proud of yourself and others’ hard work in that class because once it’s over, you’ll regret focusing on what you could have done and not what you can do now. 

Mr. Kuhn expressed, “Both Autumn and Tyson have developed into people who I can count on. Their skillset is one that I can just tell them to do something without having to take time for explanation. When they were freshmen, I thought there wasn’t much hope for them in my newspaper class. Tyson lacked motivation, and Autumn’s writing had a long way to go! Now, they both write at a high level, and do all the editorial work. Autumn is also a terrific photographer.”

“I think the thing I will remember most is how both of them seemed to have a true friendship develop over the years. They also remember so many little stories from the classes from the past. I think when I look at my office painting on my wall I will always remember them as they were part of that crew who gave me the gift, but they also (like The Office) have dynamic character personalities! I don’t want to even think about this class without them. The experience they should take away is know how to work hard, be dependable, and laugh and have fun while you do so. Tyson’s writing is pretty funny as you can get his sense of humor out of it, while Autumn’s photography is artistic and creative”

Over the past four years of my life, I’ve served as a member of the Shark Scene journalism staff. For the past two years, I’ve been an editor of that very same association. This year I leave that position and the experience I’ve gained forever.

Four years ago, I walked into this class a freshman, the only familiar face in the entire room was that of a fellow freshman, Autumn Mann. Freshmen aren’t supposed to be in Newspaper. Mr. Kuhn has made this very clear every year, that he has no care for inexperience and youthful ignorance. But somehow, either because we’re great writers or because there wasn’t enough people in the class, we made it in. However, I choose to think it was the grace of God. To my understanding the only person to ever grace this class for four years other than Autumn and Myself is Keegan Honig. When Honig left after my sophomore year, Autumn and I were forced to fill his shoes. We didn’t even come close. Kuhn liked Honig so much, that to this day, he still stands by him as the Messiah of our newspaper class. In fact, one of the proudest moments of my life came sophomore year when Mr. Kuhn accidentally called me Keegan.

Just as I had been getting used to my life as a highschooler, none other than Covid-19 came along and completely threw my entire class off the rails. What started as a few short weeks turned into an outright complete online experience for the rest of my freshman year. But I managed to scrape by. Going into my second year, it was quite clear to me journalism was equal parts my favorite and least favorite class as it’s always very stressful but I enjoy the general atmosphere, the people, and so forth. I would not recommend it for the faint of heart, but if you put in enough effort, you will be rewarded handsomely for your determination. 

But anything that can go wrong, will. Covid came back with a vengeance and once again, hindered my sophmore year. It was even more difficult this time as you had to actually do work because we all knew the world wasn’t ending just yet. I became quite the bum as I fell off the wagon and right into a certain famous creek, without a paddle. I’ll remember the wakeup call Kuhn gave us as he berated us on a google meet before pulling up our grades in front of everyone.

Yet Newspaper is as much fun as it is not-so-fun, whether Kuhn likes it or not. In between the students acting like goofballs the entire hour, the pizza parties, the Christmas parties, and everything else, there’s an amount of work done over the year. Junior year was definitely the most out of hand as we had quite the cast of characters on that lineup, for better or worse. This senior year seems to be the most reserved out the four as it consists of four seniors and four juniors. 

My senior class is well renowned as the worst class of all time by every beloved teacher we’ve had over the years. So much so that we’ve left a line of depressed adults behind. Do I recommend Journalism? No. This class is going to be dead after Autumn, Maria, and I leave. Even still, this class, all the memories inside it, Mr. Kuhn, and my fellow journalism veteran, Autumn, have become such a big part of my life that it is nearly unfathomable for me to thinkthat this chapter of my life is coming to a close as I move on to another world. Though I can say for sure, I’ll be remembering this experience in whatever else I do.