One of my favorite classes in high school was arguably one of the toughest.

In the midst of a busy senior year that included writing for the school paper, visiting colleges, and juggling classwork, my schedule included Advanced Placement English Literature.

I always did well in English classes, but AP English Lit took everything to another level, starting with the four books we had to read and analyze over the summer.

I’m sure there were at least a handful of days when I wasn’t as enthused about reading Shakespeare and analyzing poetry as I should have been, but the class became one of my favorites because of the lasting lessons imparted by our teacher, Mrs. Shuell.

The first lesson I learned was the importance of clear and concise writing — one that continues to serve me well.

The goal of any AP class is to prepare students for the AP exams each spring, and AP English Lit saw me use up more than a few pens during practice exams. I learned rather quickly that it was better to make my point early in an essay, rather than recapping plot points or building to it with flowery language. Once your point is made, then you can build on it.

And then there were lit terms. Those assignments asked us to define a term found in literature, such as “allegory” or “hyperbole,” find an example of it in literature, and then analyze how that example illustrates the term. The goal behind them — and I think we had to turn in 12 per semester — was to not only learn what the terms meant, but to also have a guide to prepare for the AP test.

If they weren’t done correctly, they were given back to be redone or edited to a degree.

Again, being clear, concise and correct was the goal.

But Mrs. Shuell’s most important and longest-lasting piece of advice (at least to me) was this: Write about what you know, not what you don’t know.

On the surface, Mrs. Shuell’s advice applied to the AP English Literature exam, which includes a lengthy free response section.

But, as a journalist and editor, it holds a deeper meaning for me.

It starts with getting to the point, which journalists are taught early to write in inverted pyramid style: Put the important information first and then build on it.

But being a reporter also requires learning a lot of information about things you don’t know and learning it quickly. In essence, you become an expert very quickly, or enough of an expert to be able to correctly convey information to the reader.

Google can be a treasure trove of information, but, if you’re explaining something to the reader, you have to be able to explain it in a way that makes sense. If you don’t understand it, there’s a good chance the reader won’t, either.

I’ve written endless numbers of football, soccer and softball stories, but I’ve also written stories about rugby, pickleball, curling, and different holiday celebrations in different countries.

In those instances when I’m writing about something I don’t know much about, there’s obvious research to be done, but it ultimately comes back to writing about what I do know: People.

People are really at the heart of every story — how they react, how they’re affected, what something means to them — and the people I’ve met working for The News have helped produce a lot of fun, interesting stories.

I could sit all day and try to break down the finer points of a defensive formation in football or proper technique for throwing the shot put or strategies for playing bridge, but I’m a lot better off telling you about the people involved in those activities, why they do what they do, the work they put in, or what their coaches and teammates say about them.

That stuff I can get to know more quickly and more easily than all the technical aspects of whatever subject I’m approaching, and then I can do what Mrs. Shuell told me to do and write what I know.

Thank you, Northeast Michigan, for letting me get to know you.