There’s only one part of journalism camp I dread.

It comes hours after you feel the sort of numb elation that’s all too familiar to anyone who’s worked in a student newsroom. You’ve made it through days of reporting, writing and editing to pull together a cohesive package of stories, photos and sidebars and you can finally breathe easy knowing it doesn’t need to happen again for awhile.

You’re grateful for the respite from deadline stress but you’re too exhausted to celebrate with anything more physically taxing than maybe a nice, long nap.

And then it hits you: It’s time to say good-bye.

In high school and college, that meant you’d sequester yourself from your fellow student journalists for a few days, maybe a few weeks before the next issue had to come together.

These days, it means waiting a full year before you get to explain the inverted pyramid method on a whiteboard or seeing the light bulb flare up above a student’s head when they finally, finally, understand what a nut graf is.

And it means there are more than 350 days before you’re learning life lessons from 16 talented, driven and unflappable teenagers. It really is the best week of the year.

Here are just a few reasons why I admire this year’s crop of kids, The Oregonian/OregonLive’s High School Journalism Institute class of 2019:

Karla for having the courage to express her opinion on the whitewashed media landscape.

Jasmine for similarly calling out the harmful stereotypes about people of color that pervade the industry to this day.

And Lena for being bold enough to claim that if nobody else is going to tell our stories with grace, it’s up to us to rectify it.

Leo for being the GOAT and gracefully navigating an interview that would have any seasoned pro tapping out.

Alyson for battling homesickness by finding the common thread that ties her mom’s experience at Oregon State to her own.

Nina for extolling on the simple effectiveness of every journalist’s favorite word: said.

Savannah for facing her fear of heights by being the first to volunteer for the challenge course on the first day of camp and climbing a 30-foot pole on her own.

Garon for his resourcefulness and taking full advantage of being among several professional journalists to further his own knowledge of the trade and bring it back to school with him.

Yanling for helping yeet my heart into oblivion. She’s a real one.

Camila for stepping out of her comfort zone behind the keyboard to learn the power of pointing and shooting.

Zoe for tapping her inner strength to tackle new experiences.

Gilberto for reminding me of the otherwise inexplicable pride that swells within us when we see our name printed beneath a headline we’re very proud of.

Sofia for being bold enough to demand justice for the underserved.

Aslan for embracing vulnerability and finding new friends — and shoulders to lean on — over the course of a week at Oregon State University.

Mackenzie for taking us back to those moments when we rediscover why we do this in the first place.

And Alex for finding a slice of home nearly 100 miles away from her two four-legged friends.

Next summer can’t come soon enough.