I have spent approximately 700 days in 311C. In the first 180 days, I learned how to survive in that room. In the next 180 days, I learned how to manage my time between two different projects. In the third 180 days, I learned how to work as a team and to support those around me. In the last 180, I learned not only who I truly am but how much I am supported by those who have also spent many of their days in that room. I have celebrated, cried, mourned, ranted and listened in 311C. This room, a small corner of PHS where only a lucky group of students get to pass through, has helped shape me into who I will choose to be in the next days of my life.
311C, the journalism room at PHS, has seen me through all four years of high school, the good, the bad and the sad. But the thing that makes that room so special is not the four walls that block it in, the 22 iMac computers that line the walls, the piles of sticky notes on the desks, the mailboxes filled with trinkets or the cabinet filled with old yearbooks, but the people who have also spent time in it.
My best friends are a product of that room. My best mentor is a product of that room. And everyone else in my life has been affected by that room. If it is not a place they have had a privilege of spending so much of their time in, they have spent just as much or more time with me, which is the next best thing to seeing the magic that happens in that room.
I could go on about the work, emotions, successes, failures and all that lies in between that transpires in that room. But if you know me, I’m sure you’ve already heard that.
Instead of repeating myself, I want to show my gratitude to that room. The room that built me, comma by comma and headline by headline, into the person and writer I am today.
But I guess a room can’t physically do that. A room has no say in what I write, how I write it or how I learned to do it. So, as I said before, I think the right thing to say is thank you to those who made 311C so special. To the ones who taught me patience and compassion while in that room. To the ones who showed me true friendship and love in that room. To the ones who believed in me even when I couldn’t believe in myself. To the one who saw an eager freshman girl and poured the love of journalism into her.
I am a product of 311C, but more importantly I am a product of all those who have seen me through this room and for that, I could never be more grateful or proud.
Thank you PHS Media, my staffs, Mrs. Koreski and as a whole, 311C. You have changed my life, for the better.
Rob Miller • May 24, 2026 at 9:11 am
Koreski and 311C are a name and number that will be ingrained in my head forever. To watch you grow because of the lessons you learned in that room, to see the passion you have for what you’ve learned in that room and to know that advisor, that room and the friends you have from that room have shaped your future career has been nothing short of a blessing. As a dad watching you play basketball I was proud, watching you dance as a Red Wing I was proud, but neither of those compare to how proud I am of your love to write and your overall education! Reading articles you wrote, seeing meaningful moments you’ve captured with a camera is a true blessing! The world of journalism will be better with you as a part of it! Keep writing with passion, honesty and love because you are going to great things! Keep reaching for the stars baby girl and when you reach them, reach a little higher!