Student voices: Jumping out of the comfort zone

I have been on my high school’s paper, The Axe, since I was a freshman. In September, I will be a senior and begin my role as co-editor-in-chief. Despite the application process and the fact that, come fall, I will have been on the paper longer than anyone in the school, I often doubt myself.

I wouldn’t say I’m an innately self-deprecating person. But like most people, I do doubt whether I should be where I am or doing what I’m doing.

Naturally, coming to camp I had my doubts.

On our first day, we had a press conference simulation, and I was sitting and scribbling down notes as the people around me asked questions I would have never thought to ask. Yet again I doubted myself, but I pushed through the doubt and asked a question anyway. By no means was it a ground-breaking question, but it received a few nods of approval, and in that moment I didn’t doubt myself. I belonged.

In the same way that I doubt whether I should be in certain settings for school, I often doubt myself when it comes to meeting new people and making friends. I wouldn’t at all classify myself as an introvert, but I would say I don’t often step out of my comfort zone. Making new friends is definitely out of my comfort zone, but like at the press conference, I’ve pushed through.

This camp has, and absolutely will continue, to push me out of my comfort zone and teach me to not doubt myself when meeting new people and doing new things out of my comfort zone. The journalism I am learning this week is super interesting and I’m excited about it. But simultaneously, I’m excited for the way this experience is pushing me beyond my typical safety net.

–Maggie McMillen, South Eugene High School

This blog post was produced by a student reporter as part of the High School Journalism Institute, an annual collaboration among The Oregonian/OregonLive, Oregon State University and other Oregon media organizations. For more information or to support the program, go to

oregonlive.com/hsji