As a continuing feature, The Accolade delves into the origins of Sunny Hills culture or landmarks. This time, we take a look at our own program. First-year staff writer Elise Pak shares how she ended up joining her three older siblings in becoming part of The Accolade and its award-winning culture. For previous stories celebrating Sunny Hills journalism program’s 65th year of publishing, go to our Feature section’s “Did You Know?” series and our February issue of The Accolade news magazine.

In the Pak sibling household, joining The Accolade wasn’t a question — it was a tradition.

Before I even knew what a cutline or a nut graf was, I recall hearing my older sister, Camryn, talk about deadline stress, writing stories and winning awards. I watched her, a News editor in the 2018-2019 school year, return home past 10 p.m. from certain newspaper production nights each month with bags under her eyes. 

This sparked a strange mix of curiosity and hesitation in me. 

Journalism seemed overwhelming. I found myself wondering, Why does she put up with this if it’s so exhausting?

I didn’t fully understand it yet, but I knew that this elective — Advanced Journalism — mattered to her, and observing her dedication made me want to discover what made joining The Accolade worth it.

Camryn, who ended up going to Stanford, and getting a bachelor’s in American Studies and a master’s in Communication, cleared the path for her three younger siblings. My older brothers — Tyler, who graduated from USC as a journalism major last year and is in his first year at his alma mater studying law, and Justin, who will graduate from Sunny Hills next month and plans to enroll in the University of California, San Diego as a Cognitive Science major — followed in her footsteps. Each enrolled in English teacher Tommy Li’s Journalism 1 class in his freshman year and subsequently joined The Accolade staff the following year and got promoted to an editor position.

Tyler, my oldest brother, became the editor-in-chief [EIC] during the 2020-2021 school year. He oversaw the production of digital instead of print publications because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced school officials to resort to distance or hybrid learning, meaning few students would be on campus. In the next school year, the National Scholastic Press Association [NSPA] recognized him and his staff’s work in naming The Accolade among 57 other high school newspapers/news magazines as a Pacemaker finalist — the first such national recognition for Sunny Hills since 2009.

Justin, two years older than me, is now the web managing editor, and the specialty magazines he helped produce in his junior year resulted in the journalism program’s third Pacemaker-winning plaque. In his leadership role this school year, he and online web [EIC] senior Seowon Han steered the program to its first national award, the coveted NSPA online news website Pacemaker finalist plaque.

It’s clear that my older siblings have left their mark on this program.

Even with this established path in front of me, I was scared to walk through it. For those who are the youngest in their families, I’m sure you can sympathize with me when I tell you that their achievements felt like footprints that were too big to fill — let alone follow. I found myself questioning whether I truly wanted to see what journalism has in store for me, or am I just following my sister and brothers because I was just expected to.

The legacy was clear, but where I fit into it wasn’t. I began to feel the pressure of their success. 

However, I want to emphasize that this pressure didn’t derive from my parents. My whole life, I’ve watched my siblings come home with beaming smiles plastered on their faces as they carried in their hands awards from elementary and middle school programs or competitions. They were praised for their success from family members at reunions.

I also witnessed how journalism — what they learned from Li in the introduction as well as the advanced level — shaped them into intelligent, hardworking individuals. So when it was my turn to attend high school, I was willing to take my first step on that Pak-established path.

On my first day in Journalism 1 during my freshman year, a part of me was apprehensive, but another part of me was excited. I shifted in my seat nervously, wondering if I would measure up to my siblings. What if I’m a poor writer? What if I let our adviser, Mr. Li, down?

But as the months passed, and I walked farther down the path, I began to understand why my siblings committed to journalism. It wasn’t instant, and it definitely wasn’t easy, but I slowly got the hang of it.

However, coming from a family and classroom known for its award-winning culture, I soon realized I didn’t know whether I was striving for excellence for myself or just robotically continuing the legacy expected of me. And when I faced challenges in my journey as a staff reporter — when I spent six exhausting months writing one story or stared at an empty Google Doc at 1 a.m., suffering from writer’s block — I began to doubt if I truly belonged here, and if I even liked journalism or was good at it.

At times, I considered not returning to The Accolade for my junior year. I hoped to try new extracurriculars like video production and to find something I knew for sure I was passionate about, thus possibly forging my own Pak path. My mom frowned at this news. My siblings encouraged me to utilize high school as a time to explore different pathways. But something stopped me. Something made me want to stay.

It wasn’t guilt, obligation or embarrassment. It was the realization that somewhere along the way, journalism had become my passion, too.

I thought of the gratification I felt when I saw my stories published on our website or in magazine issues. I remembered the thrill of watching my two feature stories win Best of SNO awards. Such honors showed it was worth the several hours I had poured into those pieces so they could be the best they could be — the standard my adviser holds us to in producing Los Angeles Times-quality work. Yes, this is what award-winning journalism is all about, making countless phone calls, summoning students during fourth period again and again and asking what felt like thousands of follow-up questions of my sources.

I look back on all the different, unique people I got to meet through my work as a journalist, from my peers at Sunny Hills to reporters and editors from all around the country who taught me during last summer’s journalism camp in San Luis Obispo, and I can now confidently say, the journalism blood is in me.

Yes, I grew up surrounded by an award-winning culture, both at home and in Room 138. The path may have been paved by my siblings, but the decision to stay on is mine. And now, I want to be a part of shaping The Accolade for the next generation of staffers and readers — not just as another Pak, but as Elise.