Humans of McMaster: The Silhouette Graduating Class

The Silhouette: Please introduce yourself.

Subin Park: My name is Subin Park. I use she/her pronouns. I am the Arts and Culture Editor.

Jovan Popovic: My name is Jovan and I’m the Sports Editor.

Ana Mamula: My name is Ana Mamula. My pronouns are she/her and I am the Opinions Editor.

Chris Osadchuk: My name is Christina. I go by Chris. I am the Multimedia Editor.

The Silhouette: What made you want to join the Silhouette?
AM: My entire life I wanted to write, but that field doesn’t really make the most money and is looked down upon. So, growing up I always wanted to do it, but I didn’t really think it was something I could just go into. But I still loved writing and I really just wanted to go into it. Now, I still love writing and that’s why it never feels like a chore.

CO: I was the Editor-in-Chief of my high school newspaper, The Bear Truth. I really enjoy student journalism. I think that it’s such a nice alleyway to pursue individual expression and to explore campus-specific issues while still being able to explore community issues in Hamilton. It’s just a great opportunity for students to be a part of something that’s bigger than themselves.

JP: I love journalism. At that point, I had been writing for eight years on some of my own websites. I always loved [The Blue Jays]. When I was just a kid watching them, I saw a commercial saying build your own website for free. I did and I’ve been writing about them ever since. That turned into writing for the Sil. Unfortunately, I stopped writing for my own website about two years ago. But, you know, I’d call this a pretty good upgrade now that people actually read my articles.

SP: I started participating in student journalism in high school. I wrote for my school’s newspaper, Graffiti. I made a lot of close friends and we had a lot of cool opportunities like going to the Toronto Star Awards for high school journalism as well. I wanted to continue that with the Sil.

The Silhouette: What's one really notable memory?

CO: Andrew is a part of a club called Absolute Pitch. He’s the band director and my best friend, Eileen, is the president. Absolute Pitch has their rehearsals after our Sil general meetings. One night, Andrew, Nisha, Eileen and I were sitting in the Sil office just going over random Pitch things and random Sil things and just chatting.

It became a jam session; there were mood lights and Andrew started playing an instrumental version of the Hamilton soundtrack. Eileen and I just started coming up with random verses and choreo and Nisha looked really worried and really disappointed. I think that made the video we took.

SP: There was a community initiative aimed at parents with cancer. At the time, I was also dealing with a family member who was diagnosed with cancer going through chemotherapy. So having that conversation while I was also coping with grief was really helpful. This year, I also covered Concrete Tales. It was about people who were experiencing homelessness and also substance abuse. They were coming to this eatery called 541 Eatery and Exchange. It showed me a side of Hamilton I didn’t really know about before.

The Silhouette: Since this is your final year at the Silhouette, is there a final message you want to give?
AM: I’m so grateful for my time here and everything that I experienced. If anyone
is reading this and debating on writing or joining our team, they really should. I’m very fricking shy and I still did it and I’m still having the time of my life. It’s such a good opportunity and it’s opened so many doors for me. I’ve grown so much as a writer.

JP: It’s really had a massive effect on my life. It’s provided a sense of community, it’s provided a place for growth, a place for new experiences and improving myself. This isn’t only in terms of journalistic skills but also learning how to communicate and work with a team, getting to know new people from interviews, establishing connections and networking, all kinds of things like that. There are so many elements to the job that ended up being significant life skills. Through and through a lot of the people I ended up meeting — whether it be friends who are co-workers or athletes who I ended up being friends with — I met them through the Sil.