As fall begins, it marks one year of my writing for the opinion section at The Spectator. Having grown up in Sweden with English as my second language, I was initially very nervous about writing at the college level. However, reflecting on my first year, I realize that writing opinion articles helped me tremendously in many ways. When I first arrived on the Hill, I was uncertain of which extracurricular activities I would pursue. The options were endless, but my attention drew to an email in my inbox with the subject “Join Us at The Spec!” I have always been interested in writing, and I thought “what better than writing for the school newspaper?”
In his last article, Will Rampe, class of 2024 and the previous Opinion Editor at The Spectator, wrote why writing for the Opinion section is so valuable. In his honor, I would like to begin where he took off, expressing why I find writing opinion articles so rewarding.
Aristotle once said that “what we learn to do we learn by doing.” This quote pertains to one of the main reasons I value writing for the opinion section, which is improving your craft as a writer. Now, I am by no means a writing expert, but I believe my writing has improved since my first day here, and writing outside the classroom has been a very valuable experience.
Of course, many things can be attributed to my improvement, one of which is Hamilton’s obvious focus on writing in its curriculum. However, I truly believe that writing opinion articles has improved my writing in a different way. When writing for a college class, one is almost always constrained by the writing structure of that class. This constraint is not by any means negative in terms of learning to write; rather, you only learn how to write for the audience of your professors. Contrary to this learning style, the constraints of opinion articles on a blank paper are your own thoughts. For me, this blank slate has given me many useful attributes when writing for a college class. Choosing your own style of writing gives you more and more ideas of how an essay can be structured, thereby enriching your writing.
Not only has writing for the opinion section improved my writing, but it has also induced me to stay more aware of things happening in my surroundings. Reading about different political or local issues has been more interesting when you can write an article and manifest your thoughts. Furthermore, when writing an article, researching the issue almost always improves the text, which automatically helps you become more knowledgeable about your topics.
The idea of other people publishing and reading your work can be daunting, or at least it was for me. Still, I have always believed that writing opinion articles is essential to playing your part within your community. Writing on certain topics can foster debate and enhance a sense of ownership and responsibility for the community. When people recognize both the problems and positive attributes in our society, it brings us together.
Writing opinion articles is not just important for the community around you, but it can also be important for yourself. Having a portfolio of your own thoughts is something I believe you will be glad to have. In the future, when my Hamilton experience is far behind, I am sure it will be interesting to look back and reflect on the ideas I had in college.
Now, I am in no way an expert at writing opinion articles, or for that matter an expert at what extracurricular activities one should pursue; instead, I want to share with you my invaluable experience from writing opinion articles. There are so many things one can do here on the Hill, but I believe that writing opinion articles is a great and easy activity to do.
The process is simple: you write an article of 650–850 words and send it into [email protected]. The topic can be almost anything, but most importantly, think about something you are passionate about. We hope to hear from you!
