You know how they say any publicity is good publicity? That was a lesson I had to learn the hard way.

Unless you’ve been living in a box for the past year and ½, you have either seen, heard of, or used the nicotine-based alternative to cigarettes that has revolutionized the e-cigarette industry. Do I need to spell it out for you? It’s called the JUUL. Even just that word alone probably triggers some of you guys, because, well if you know, you know.

So you may be wondering how an e-cig has anything to do with my clickbait headline of “When My Entire High School Hated Me For a Day.” Sure, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but at the time, that’s exactly what it felt like for me. A school of 4,000 kids who all wanted to tear me to shreds. Also, if you happened to attend my high school, you’re probably wondering why the hell I am adding fuel to the fire. Well, I figured the damage has already been done so I have nothing to lose.

Here is how it all played out. Every Friday morning the school newspaper was released to all of the homerooms throughout the school. Since I was a senior editor for the front page News section, I enjoyed watching my classmates’ reactions unfold, as they became immersed in the news stories, some of which I wrote. With that being said, I was always nervous to see people’s reactions to my articles, and with my content becoming public for the students and faculty to critic, the pressure was on. People judged the headlines I created, the pictures I inserted, the pullout quotations I chose, and of course the articles I wrote.

As my editor-in-chief once said, “If you’re not getting reactions, then you're not doing your job as a reporter”. This resonated with me, and ultimately was what motivated me to choose a topic that was not only controversial, but one that everyone knew of, yet neglected to write about: the Juul.

The compact, USB-like, nicotine vaporizer known as the Juul, had appealed to high school students as a “cooler,” more modernized form of the e-cigarette. The act known as “Juuling” peaked the newsroom’s attention, as reports of usage circulated among students at my high school. Many classmates, myself included, were turning to the nicotine buzz that a Juul provides, using it as an outlet to escape everyday stress. With the Juul being discreet and without smell, students took every opportunity to succumb to their new nicotine addiction, whether that be when teachers turned their backs or in the bathroom during a free period.

The Juul was becoming a widespread phenomenon, yet it was a news story that the senior editors had been avoiding, with knowledge that whoever wrote it would be hit immediately with backlash from students who took part in the activity known as “Juuling.” I decided to take a risk and report on the incredibly addictive e-cigarette that had teenagers as young as junior high, hooked.

After securing interviews with several students, along with clearance to use anonymous quotations, my article was published for all of the school and district to read.

I didn’t exactly understand just how angry people were with me writing that article, until I started receiving texts from friends asking me if I was “Okay”

To which I would respond, "Sure, why wouldn't I be okay?"

 It was then I realized just how serious people were about their Juuling habits and how I had just exposed this act through, what I thought was, a solely informational article. In reality, I really didn’t “expose” anything. I simply laid out the facts as to what a Juul was, and how it was smoking evolved. The advisor chair had already built up a substantial collection of confiscated Juuls, and I was just there to report on what was already public knowledge.

The responses from my article poured in immediately, as my phone suddenly flooded with angry texts from friends telling me I “exposed” the Juul. Throughout that advisory period, it seemed like a new snapchat story of someone flipping off my article was posted every second. My peers were afraid my article would “out” the Juuling community, and that teachers would catch on to their secret habit.

I remember wanting to hide my face and leave school as I went through the halls and heard random guys “booing” me as they walked by, You think I’m kidding, but the outrage was that ridiculous. Two of my guy friends picked me up by my hands and feet and chanted “burn her at the stake,” as if I was in the Salem witch trials. Honestly that was actually pretty funny, but a lot of the other reactions were less light-hearted. A lot of my other friends claimed they were kidding, but it was apparent by the glares and “sorry” expressions by people who passed by me, that I really struck a nerve with my classmates.

I vividly remember sitting in my 3rd period class and nearly breaking down because of how people were reacting. In nearly all my classes someone brought the article up to me, and it didn’t help hearing that it was a large topic of discussion in most of my friend’s classes. Right when I was about to call my mom to leave school, an old friend of mine met me in the hallway during my class and calmed me down. I don’t remember what he said, but it kept me going throughout the day, along with my co-editors reassuring me that responses is what we wanted, whether they were positive or negative. Again, a hard lesson I had to learn.

Eventually the article died down and there was something new for students to rip on, but I will forever be known as “the girl who wrote the Juul article.” Even to this day, when I meet younger classmen from my high school they still identify me as the “Juul narc” and the article still gets brought up to me a year later.

Even if you just type my name on google and click on images, one of the first things that shows up is my article and a blown up photo of a Juul. So you can basically say that my name will forever be tied to a nicotine vaporizer.

I hadn’t read the article since it was published, but now that I’m looking back at it, even though at the time I was humiliated by the controversy it sparked amongst students and faculty, I was and still am really proud of the article.

I learned a lot from that day, with how I handle negative feedback and also how I simply cannot please everyone. Even though it really, truly, sucked to have my entire high school hate me for a day, it was an article that people remembered and ultimately motivated me to take more risks with my writing and the content I create in the future.