On days when the latest issue comes out, most students can be found with a copy of tjTODAY in their hands. It has been this way since I was a freshman, and will hopefully continue to be this way long after I graduate. TjTODAY provides information about everything from SMARTR goals to renovation efforts, from student sports to academics.

But in order for each tjTODAY issue to continue distributing important information, it needs staffers. Now, the job of the staffer may seem daunting. After all, we do everything from photography to reporting to page design. And yet, month after month, despite desperate time crunches and last-minute changes, we all love working for tjTODAY.

There are some obvious benefits to working on a newspaper staff. As reporters, we get to be the first to learn about events, or even get to attend them as part of the program. When we create tjTODAY, we create something that is our own but is appreciated by the entire student body, which gives us a sense of pride in what we do.

But for me, what makes being a tjTODAY staffer worth the time is not the exclusive perks or the final product. It is not even the free food. For me, what keeps me working for tjTODAY is the sense of unity that comes from being in such a stressful yet rewarding environment.

When we have work night, the entire staff is often sitting around the large clump of desks in the center of trailer 4 through seventh and eighth period and after school until 8 p.m. That’s seven hours of time dedicated solely to newspaper. And when we have seven hours before the paper is due and we haven’t started our pages yet, that’s when we become closer together as a staff.

It is during those times that we play Taylor Swift’s “1989” album on repeat for four hours straight, eat one too many slices of pizza and laugh about events happening in the school or something funny that was said that way. It is during those moments that I remember why I am on tjTODAY.