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Home is not just a place, it can be a feeling. For senior Anna McLean Evans, her home has been within the journalism classroom, notably known as Rampant Lines, for these past four years of high school.
Evans has been a part of Rampant Lines since her freshman year when most classes were online. She was introduced to the class by her sister and has now taken the course for six total semesters. But ultimately what kept her coming back were the good vibes, and the class pushed her to do better.
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“It was challenging, and I liked my freshman year even though we were on Zoom,” Evans said. “I could see the camaraderie between the older kids in journalism and how Ashley Hutchinson would joke around with them even online.”
Hutchinson is the journalism teacher. Since many of Evans’s classes were online none of them stuck with her as much as journalism because they were not as interesting to learn through a computer.
“The jokes could be heard through the screen, it just felt like I could be a part of something in the future,” Evans said.
Evans went through some major changes when she went to open house her sophomore year and Hutchinson asked her to be the editor for the features section in the newspaper.
“Hutch told me she wanted me to be an editor, and I was so surprised because I was the youngest one, and there weren’t a lot of people in my class,” Evans said.
Becoming an editor after doing school mostly online freshman year frightened Evans because she did not know what her job would consist of.
“It was a really big learning curve from going online because my [past] editors were not doing what they would do in a normal year,” Evans said. “I didn’t really have a good example of what I should be doing.”
Evans learned how to become an editor alongside Kemourah Ullah who was also in the same position as her.
“We worked together to see how it was done, and we communicated all the time outside of class like what we were gonna do that day and what our section needed done,” Evans said.
Evans and Ullah met in her sophomore year, so when it was announced they would be editing for the same section, Ullah made Evans feel right at home. Ullah would always hype Evans up, which helped build her confidence as an editor.
“She’s played a big role in my confidence not only with journalism,” Evans said. “But socially, she made me realize I was good at something.”
Ullah has since graduated but she left her mark on Evans.
“Even though we were both just starting off [as editors], she always had so much confidence, and I looked up to her,” Evans said. “She was a year older than me, and she welcomed me with open arms.”
Although Ullah helped Evans see her potential, Evans was always good at writing because her mom taught her the importance of literacy skills at a young age.
Evans is now co-editor-in-chief of Rampant Lines and was promoted to the position her senior year.
“As Editor-in-chief it's a lot more responsibility than I originally thought; there's a lot behind the scenes, and it's a huge responsibility,” Evans said. “I feel like I’ve taken it really well and I’ve gone all in.”
Evans was never the loudest in the room but she has developed into a strong leader. Being the co-editor-in-chief gave her an outlet to showcase her leadership skills.
“I feel like I’ve always been an underrated leader; I’ve done a few leadership things, but I was never really heard out,” Evans said. “This really gave me an opportunity being editor-in-chief, to be in charge and be heard [and] impact other people.”
Rampant Lines has taught Evans various things that will stick with her as she goes to college.
“Realizing that everyone has a story and it goes deeper than you think because it's really easy to make judgments just based on how they look or who they are friends with,” Evans said. “But if you actually sit down and have a conversation with them, it normally goes a lot deeper than that.”
Features writing has changed Evans's perspective of how she views people because of the way she connects with them during interviews. Rampant Lines is not the only thing that has taught Evans something. Hutchinson has been a role model for Evans because she has been with her for four years.
“She was the first teacher I connected with because I am more of a quiet student; having her multiple times, our relationship developed over the years,” Evans said. “We have an understanding of each other and it makes me feel nice developing a relationship like that with a teacher.”
Evans can be hard to read because you have to get to know her first. It is easier for Hutchinson to understand her through the way Evans writes.
Since Evans has been a part of the Rampant Lines community her whole high school career, many of her peers look up to her, and she has the same mutual respect for them.
“Even though I might be seen as this leader and a senior member of this class, I have learned the most from teaching other students,” Evans said. “I have also learned a lot from Sarah Ingalls and Ginny Blount from working with them over the past two years.”
Ingalls and Blount are Evan’s Editors-in-chief. Leaving the Rampant Lines community is bittersweet for Evans because journalism helped her find her place in high school.
“It has given me a sense of community and family at Rose, it’s something that I can look forward to, and it’ll be here every year at the end of the day [during] fourth period,” Evans said. “I have somewhere to go and be myself and I’ll know it'll be okay.”
Evans is excited for her next chapter at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Evans received assured enrollment to the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, which only a select few students receive.
Evans is no stranger to how the journalism course works, so she understands how it could be scary for first-time students.
“Look at [journalism] as a space to be creative rather than being put in a box,” Evans said. “Everyone who comes through here makes journalism something different for themselves, leaving their impact on [the class].”
