Surrounded by huge printouts of half-finished pages, hunched over a laptop with a progress spreadsheet fully in the red, focused on warring against typos and misaligned text wrap with a Sharpie, mildly concussed — so began senior Katerina Matta’s tenure as the Winged Post’s Editor-in-Chief.

When she first joined Journalism in frosh year, she found what she describes as a “home on campus” in the energetic banter of her Intro to Journalism class, and later through the guidance and support of upperclassmen and co-editors. However, her longtime bond with previous seniors set her up for a blindside regarding leadership when she assumed the role: the distance between holding the title and motivating a staff to work with and trust you.

“At the start of this year, I had to reconcile that relationships with underclassmen are earned,” Kat said. “It took a lot of patience trying to actually connect with people beyond their pages — How can we connect with these people? How can we have this be an equal exchange? — I’ve really tried to encourage them to feel as comfortable as I did, and also to push them beyond what they think they’re capable of.”

To foster a stronger sense of community, Katerina intentionally created opportunities for connection without hierarchy, organizing face-to-face meetings between leadership and staff that were not tied to grades and encouraging joke-filled conversations during free time. Director of Journalism Whitney Huang, who calls Katerina the “Designated Storyteller” due to her ability to turn any event into a dramatic comedy, emphasizes the impact of Katerina’s efforts to make others feel seen and heard.

“She adapts herself to different situations or who she’s with, which is pretty interesting to see from a teacher’s standpoint,” Huang said. “That allows for people, instead of feeling ‘I’m looking up to this leader and I just need to be them,’ to just be the best version of themselves. She really believes that not only do people need each other, but we are better for it when we are together and putting our brains together.”

In addition to the friends she has found in Journalism, Katerina appreciates the platform and validation the program provided her as a writer. 

As a lifelong believer in the power of words, from consuming books vociferously as a child to producing her own writing in her sophomore year, Katerina uses writing as a medium to honestly digest her struggles and memorialize intangible feelings into a concrete artifact. 

“I very much need writing,” Katerina said. “I turn to writing in darker moments for me. I think there’s something very inspiring when people alchemize their pain into something that’s so beautiful — yet at the same time, the pain is just pain. Art allows you to resolve voicelessness. There’s the power of imagining something better for yourself and your community.

Beyond the page, Katerina finds connection in the power of spoken language. She credits this emphasis on the bond between word and culture to her mixed upbringing, which included weekly dinners with her Russian grandmother. 

“She’s funny in English, but she’s so, so funny in Russian,” Katerina said. “Just getting to sit at the dinner table and be fully present, to know that she’s able to be more freely herself, is really important to me.”

Middle school history partner turned close friend senior Audrey Feng recalls when Katerina first began learning Russian during the pandemic. Audrey pointed to Katerina’s diligence with Russian, despite being swamped with schoolwork and the time difference with her tutor forcing her to take lessons at 10 p.m., as being indicative of her greater commitment to educating and improving herself.

“She has a lot of inner drive and doesn’t let herself settle,” Audrey said. “This also applies personality-wise — always asking herself how she can be a better person, help more people. What stands out most about her is how strong her value system is. She’s super diligent, persistent and willing to sacrifice her own personal profit for others or her beliefs and causes.”

Katerina’s linguistic repertoire also allows her to benefit her students at the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, where she teaches ESL classes in Spanish. Recently, she began to learn Arabic, which allowed her to help a Moroccan woman. 

“Talking and laughing with these people who have such disparate life experiences from you speaks a lot to common humanity,” Katerina said. “Being a source of relief and comfort, getting to explain things and seeing when they understand is so gratifying to me. I will always be motivated to keep learning languages because I have a bit too much empathy. There’s always going to be someone else that I care about and want to help.”

Katerina emphasized how easy and effortlessly her work at the center allows her to impact others, glossing over hours spent studying Spanish song lyrics or having her grandfather teach her how to adapt a lesson plan into Arabic. In addition to providing her an opportunity for service, her work has also affirmed her confidence to fully be herself in Spanish, jokes and all.

Childhood friend senior Claire Sun met Katerina when they were 11 at a volleyball clinic and immediately noted her sense of humor.

“She was always very spunky, always complaining about her joints,” Claire said. “She has this energy where once she opens her mouth, you suddenly feel like you’ve been friends forever, even though it’s the first time. It’s kind of contradictory — she doesn’t care about what others might think, and she’s also very generous in the heart and in the mind.”

In all of Katerina’s work and stories, the focus firmly sits on her ability to engage with others on an intentionally human level, regardless of whether the circumstances happen to be in Journalism, text, Spanish, school or more.

“I want my legacy to be that I helped people heal,” Katerina said. “There’s still so much more for me to learn and new people and experiences and communities I need to be exposed to. I think to positions I’ve been in where that type of work has benefitted me — I have a responsibility to try and bring that to others somehow.”