Erez Ben-Akiva
Erez Ben-Akiva
He/him/his
Brookline High School ‘17
Time on The Sagamore: three years
Job(s): Website Manager
What is your favorite Sagamore memory?
There’s a lot of things I remember fondly about working on The Sagamore, like staying at the school until it was dark outside during production. Those evenings were really fun and I got to spend them with great people. Or, the couple of weekend retreats we had. At the time, I absolutely hated those. I thought they were pointless and a waste of time, but looking back I realized those trips allowed us to create an actual team rather than just a random group of students who all wanted to work for the school newspaper. A couple other guys and I basically just looked into ways the website could be improved, redesigning the logo, changing the layout, looking at different widgets, etc. It was pretty mundane stuff, so we added some comedy to our final presentation. Sharing our findings and conclusions while also getting laughs around the class just felt really good.
What are you doing now?
I’m a junior at Union College, majoring in history.
What did you gain from being on The Sagamore?
I’d say it reinforced my like for writing, which impacted what I decided to study in college.
What was something challenging about being on The Sagamore?
I hated interviewing people. It always made me really nervous. It got better over time and with more experience but was still never something I actually enjoyed doing. To overcome that, I had to get over myself and deal with it, which I’d venture to say is how most personal challenges are overcome. I was also really bad with time-management and always turned things in late when I was writing an article. The best way to deal with that though was just being honest about it with the editors. Better to be not punctual but still accountable than either of the two.
Do you use any of the skills you learned in The Sag in your current day life? If so, what?
My writing definitely improved, as did my time-management skills. Being on the Sagamore also makes you learn to communicate better.
What is one of the most important lessons you’ve learned from The Sag?
The Sagamore taught me the importance of finding your strengths. I also learned that a common goal or purpose can bring anyone together.