Senior Cate Bikales has been a part of the Mass Communications program since her freshman year, when she took Intro to Mass Communications. From there, she rose in the ranks, starting as sports editor her sophomore year, then transitioning to managing print editor junior year, and finally editor-in-chief her senior year.

Her interest in journalism started long before freshman year. Her Korean maternal grandmother told her many stories growing up and encouraged Bikales to do the same. This love for stories grew overtime.

“Eventually, it just transformed into me wanting to tell other people’s stories,” Bikales said. “I wanted to uplift the voices of underrepresented groups and people.”

Bikales will be continuing this love of storytelling at the journalism school within Northwestern University. She plans on majoring in journalism and political science and joining the Daily Northwestern staff as a reporter.

Through her time on the Cardinal Times, Bikales has discovered which parts of journalism she prefers, and being in the journalism school will further expose her to different aspects of news.

“I’ve enjoyed writing and reporting and doing interviews more than leading reporters and news meetings,” she reflected.

Bikales encourages people to pursue the aspects of journalism that they most want to do.

“Do what you want. If you want to do the writing side, do the writing side, but if you’re more interested in podcasting or videos, do that,” she said. “You only have three years on a high school paper, so experiment and try it out.”

Bikales has loved the interpersonal connections that the Cardinal Times fosters. 

“Meeting those on the paper and also meeting the unique people that I’ve interviewed or written stories about [has been a highlight],” she said. “I love the community of the people on the paper.”

Being a reporter and editor challenges Bikales to connect with new people that she wouldn’t typically talk with. Being pushed out of her comfort zone has been beneficial.

“Getting to talk and hear the stories of all of these different people has… put my life into perspective,” she said.

Bikales has always appreciated the sense of community on the Cardinal Times. When she was a freshman, she joined members of the Cardinal Times staff on a trip to Anaheim, Calif. 

“That was one of the moments I felt pretty bonded to the paper,” she said. “ [I knew] I wanted to continue with the paper.”

From that point on, she was connected to the paper. She described everyone on staff as being welcoming and supportive, especially adviser Mary Rechner.

“I am going to miss her and everyone else on the staff.”

Senior Hadley Steele has been on the Cardinal Times since her sophomore year. She started on the staff as a designer, was managing digital editor her junior year and by her senior year, she had worked up to become one of two managing print editors her senior year. 

Steele looks back fondly on spending time with her peer reporters and working together as a paper.

“My favorite memories were the after school design days that we had in my sophomore year when I first started on the paper… we all bonded a lot,” Steele said. 

Over her three years on the newspaper, she focused several articles on the houseless community in Portland which became a big part of her writing as she learned more about the programs that are working to address the needs of houseless people. 

One of the programs Steele wrote about is Outside In, a health clinic available to houseless people located across the street from Lincoln on 13th Ave.  

“I focused a lot on houselessness when I was writing for the Cardinal Times…” Steele said. “ I interviewed someone from Outside In across the street and it was definitely the most interesting interview that I’ve ever had, because she told me so much about a program that I didn’t know about even though it’s right outside of our school.” 

Although Steele doesn’t think she will be involved in student journalism during her time at University of Washington, she still wants to incorporate values from the Cardinal Times into new parts of her life. 

“I don’t plan on doing student journalism, but I want to do something with social work. So that to me is similar in the way that you are advocating for people [to journalism] and speaking up for things that you support,” Steele said. 

As an IB diploma candidate, Steele faced a rigorous course load on top of writing for the newspaper and being involved in a variety of extracurricular activities. 

“Going into full IB and things, I wasn’t expecting to have a good time or be celebrated for doing as much as I did, but looking back on it, I’m proud of myself for pushing myself,” said Steele.

Through all her hard work at Lincoln, Steele learned a lot about herself and is stepping into her future at university with a new outlook on balance. 

“The biggest thing is finding balance, because I feel like a lot of high school is doing things in school and also having so much to focus on in your own life… Time management and working on keeping yourself sane in all the things you are doing,”  Steele said. 

As Steele moves on from Lincoln and Portland, she is looking forward to her future in Seattle.

 “I’m excited for starting anew, even though I really enjoyed my time at Lincoln. I am excited to try new things and meet new people,” Steele said. 

As Claire Yoo prepares to graduate this year, she reflects fondly on her time at the Cardinal Times. 

Yoo joined the staff her sophomore year as a designer. She continued this work until becoming a managing digital editor and head of design her senior year. The transition into each of these roles has taught her important life skills and helped her grow as a designer. 

“I think the whole process of evolving from a designer to a digital editor has helped me both become more skilled in software and also in teaching and leading. And personal skills such as organization and time management,” she said. 

Yoo points out the uniqueness of the community created by the Cardinal Times. 

“I think one quality of this class I really enjoyed was that it’s such a diverse group of grades. So I think that it’s kind of refreshing in that way,” she said. “I get experiences that I wouldn’t have gotten before and I like how we can view each other, not just as classmates and peers, but also kind of like coworkers in a sense. I think that’s a different relationship that you can’t really form in school oftentimes.” 

Yoo is attending the University of California Irvine this fall and plans on majoring in international studies. She also intends to study abroad during her college years. 

“I think I’m going to be studying in Korea. I actually had a plan for going there for college, but it was kind of complicated. The school there has a specific major that I want to study: international development and cooperation,” she said. “I really like exploring different cultures and traveling, so I hope that after high school I would have more freedom in incorporating that into my daily life.”

In a word of advice, Yoo emphasizes growing out of your comfort zone. 

“Also, not limiting yourself and trying to succeed in things. I feel like you can only grow as much as you let yourself. So don’t limit yourself,” she said. “Just put in a lot of effort and you’ll get that growth from it.”

Sports editor Devyn McMillen has had their eyes set on the concept of journalism since elementary school. 

McMillen started pursuing their interest by doing summer workshops centered around photojournalism, but eventually resonated more with writing. McMillen didn’t want their only form of writing to revolve around English essays, so joining the Cardinal Times gave them the opportunity to write about more things they cared about, particularly sports.

Flipping through the newspaper in their freshman year, McMillen was unsatisfied with some of the sports articles they saw and wanted to spark change.

“I’m a multi-sport athlete. I was on the varsity soccer team, varsity ski team; I always loved playing sports, and I wanted there to be articles beyond what I was seeing,” they said. “Most of the articles I was seeing would be spring sports updates and recaps of games and that was boring.” 

One highlight was an article they wrote about two unrelated deaths at Mount Hood that confused the public due to their close proximity.

“I got a Best of Students Newspapers Online (SNO) award for that article and that was the first award that I got, and I was like “woah” because I could write articles about sports and it could be recognized [even though] the news and features and arts and culture articles are the ones [typically] getting the attention,” said McMillen.

McMillen’s time on the paper helped widen their perspective and recognize the gravity of what they writes. 

“Before [writing for the Cardinal Times] I didn’t realize how many strict ethics you have to follow. It helped me have more integrity. You have to be true to your word,” said McMillen. “If you’re taking an English class, no one will be reading your work other than your teacher and some peers, but [when you write for the paper,] you will actually be publishing [it] for everyone to read. They expect what you’re saying is true. You don’t wanna be fabricating anything that isn’t true. It has helped me have more honesty in anything I’ve been writing.”

McMillen describes how the professional working environment of the class has forced them to be reliable and self-sufficient.

“[It’s] a really interesting class that probably reflects what a job or an internship would be like because it is the only class I’ve ever had, and probably is the only class in the entire school other than the yearbook that is 100% student-run,” they said.

Collaboration is another factor of the paper McMillen enjoyed, especially with their co-sports editor, Cole Tomlinson.

“He brought really good ideas to the table when I didn’t have any,” they said. 

McMillen’s deep passion for sports and journalism will continue beyond high school. In the fall, McMillen plans to major in communications and play D3 soccer at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

For the three years that senior Xander Levine has spent working on the Cardinal Times, he has held the positions of Business Manager, Social Media Manager and photographer.

As a part of the Cardinal Times, Levine was able to report on things he cared about.

“Newberg school district banned pride and BLM flags, it mattered so much to me and I felt like I had to report on it. I enjoyed writing about it,” said Levine.

 Levine has also reported on activism that the Lincoln community participates in.

“I attended the Youth Climate Strike as a photographer in September of 2021, I captured photos that really showed youth using their voices for change and loved it,” said Levine. “My photos made the Oregonian and were featured on KGW.”

Levine takes pride in the work he has done for the Cardinal Times.

“I played largely a behind the scenes role on the paper, doing what was needed, when it was needed,” said Levine.

Working for the Cardinal Times was not only beneficial for the paper, but also for Levine.

“It has provided [me] a head start of knowledge on journalistic practices. I’m taking what I learned from Cardinal Times, to college,” said Levine. “I plan on majoring in journalism and public relations at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.”

Levine feels that working for the Cardinal Times enriched his high school experience.

“I have enjoyed my time on the Cardinal Times immensely, it has truly made me interested in news and government, and [changed] how I look at news reporting,” said Levine. “Cardinal Times allowed me to explore a career path and inspired me to really go out and document the world, and keep people informed.”

Senior Amelia Thorpe is a Cardinal Times veteran. She spent three years involved in many facets of the paper. During her freshman year she was in Intro to Mass Communications, sophomore year she was a reporter for the paper and now she is back during senior year as a Teacher Aide (TA). Thorpe says the Cardinal Times has been an exciting and beneficial experience for her during high school.

She originally joined mass communications because she liked writing. 

“I thought it was one of the more interesting classes. I liked the idea that I would have the freedom to write whatever I wanted and interview people, which I find really fun,” Thorpe said.

Thorpe’s favorite part of being a student reporter is interviewing different people to understand new perspectives.

“I just really like listening to people talk about what they have going on in their lives,” she said. “Once people begin to loosen up you can find out so many interesting things about them like […]things that are going on in their lives which I really enjoy.”

Thorpe’s favorite memory from being staff on the Cardinal Times was participating in Media Days organized by the Oregon Journalism Education Association and the University of Oregon.

“It was a really fun experience. As a class, we went to these instructional workshops and we got different lessons on different aspects of communications, being on a newspaper and reporting,” Thorpe said. “On top of that, it was just really fun to hang out with the people from the class and enjoy the community.”

Thorpe plans to take a gap year after high school. She wants to travel and work around the world.

“I’m going to be doing a bunch of different kinds of opportunities and jobs, just so I can get that experience and also to have fun and reset before I have to go back to school,” Thorpe said. “I also want to kind of find a passion for something specific so I can figure out what I want to do with my life.”

Thorpe hopes she can apply skills that she learned while on the paper to real life. 

“The practice that we get in this class for a real-life working environment will be very helpful. You’re working with other people to produce a product on a schedule,” Thorpe said. “It’s also helpful to practice communication and working through problems. Instead of going into working in groups now without any experience, I have that experience with me.”