People say that writers should write what they know. I consider myself a writer, so I feel I should write something that I know. This was my first experience as a journalist on a newspaper. Coming into college, I wanted to be a teacher; however, that changed for me. And, instead, I am pursuing something in the field of journalism.To be a reporter, there is an obvious need to be able to talk to people whom you wouldn’t normally converse with. I have to admit, this concept was pretty intimidating for me, considering the fact that I can be incredibly shy. Going through this quarter as a member of the Activist staff, I learned a lot about being able to approach and contact different people. This was one of my biggest accomplishments in the quarter.
Many things happened this quarter that made me happy to be on staff. The staff was complimented several times by different people on how well the paper was developed, the accuracy of the facts, and how well written the articles had been. This quarter, we were lucky enough to have ten people on the staff, some of whom had been previous journalists. I have to admit, I was feeling like the rookie, and it was kind of intimidating.
There are many skills that I developed while being on staff. I definitely learned how to meet deadlines and how to manage my time and schedule. Along with being able to contact and talk to people, I learned the characteristic of persistence, almost to the point of pure annoyance. There is also a way of writing that I developed. It is essential to present the facts without including your own opinions. At first, it was pretty difficult to learn. The simplest words and phrases can infer your opinion.
I commend all the reporters and the editor of the Activist for a great quarter and a great first experience.