An Amateur's Beginnings

Future Dilemmas

As a college student, I’m pretty much living in a bubble. The job market doesn’t matter to me at the moment. My biggest worries include getting my homework done on time and not failing any tests. Thank God I’m a college student.

But what happens when I graduate? What happens when I get thrown into the real world and have to take care of myself? These are questions that plague many young people, particularly me. I’m a worrier by nature and the fact that I’m in a major that is not known for providing steady jobs or paying very well doesn’t help. To my dad’s dismay, I’m still striving to be a journalist.

Right now, I’m content pursuing what I love. But what about when I finish college and the time comes to find a job that will pay the bills? Will I regret my decision? Every time this thought comes to me, I try hard to push it away. I don’t like thinking about the uncertainties of the future. Instead, I enjoy being a bit naive. It keeps me from going crazy.

So instead of worrying if my degree in journalism will get me a steady job, I worry about my next MM2100 assignment. At least the class assignments are something I have control over.

I have two more years of this bliss, and I intend to take full advantage of it.

Next Up, Lab Ten

Spring break is a time for hitting the beach with friends, having late nights partying and having way too much food. Spring break is not about doing a news story for your MMC2100 class. Unfortunately, that is exactly what I’ll be doing this spring break.

Instead of looking up all the best parties in town, I’ll be looking up environmental issues. Once again, the disadvantages of having Tuesday lab.

My story is going to be about the new streetlight system that’s going to be implemented throughout Weston. The city is going to install voltage regulators in the streetlights to reduce the amount of electricity used, cut carbon dioxide emissions and save money. The story idea is great, but I’m worried about the three sources I need to get. I have no idea where to start.

I obviously need to talk to someone who is involved in the project. Problem is, how do I find this information? My plan is to go to city hall, ask some people there and keep my fingers crossed. If city hall doesn’t lead me to anyone, I don’t know what step to take next. So many things can go wrong that I’m beginning to get really worried. I just got home a few hours ago and I’m already freaking out about the story. This is going to be a stressful week.

I was also planning on asking the AP Environmental Science teacher at my old high school. I figured she would be a good second source, and I could get a lot of the science behind the new system. My third source is going to be a Weston resident. This will give me the opinion of someone who is not involved in the project, and I can know the local’s perspective on how their tax dollars are being implemented.

In theory, I have lab ten pretty well planned out. As long as nothing goes wrong, it could turn out to be a very easy story to do. But the chances of nothing going wrong, as always, are very slim. I’m keeping my fingers crossed all week.

To Be or Not To Be

Back in freshman year, I was an anthropology major. I chose this because I didn’t know what I wanted to do and thought that it sounded better than undecided. So I went with it, never really thinking that I would end up graduating with it.

Anthropology was more of a temporary thing for me until I found what I really wanted to dedicate my life to. Over this past summer, I finally made up my mind to switch my major to journalism. I’ve always loved writing and was pretty good at it too. It was my strong point. I took a risk and gave journalism a try. I never thought I’d end up liking it as much as I do now.

Introduction to Journalism with William McKeen was what did it for me. His love and passion for journalism was addictive, and he made the field sound so exciting. I wanted to be a journalist now. I couldn’t wait to get out there, find stories and get paid for writing.

MMC2100 brought me back to reality. In this class, I realized how difficult and competitive it is to be a journalist. There are so many little details and facts journalists had to learn that I never knew about. Just being able to tell a story wasn’t good enough anymore.

In the beginning MMC2100 was very intimidating to me. I thought I wasn’t going to make it after I kept getting failing grades in my labs. But as I started to learn the drill and how to proofread effectively, my grades started getting better and so did my optimism.

I often ask myself whether I’m making the right choice being a journalism major. There are times when I doubt my potential and don’t think I’m good enough for such a competitive field. But then I have the few amazing moments when I love what I’m studying and can’t imagine myself in any other major. These are the moments that keep me in this competitive field.

My First Interview

My first interview went surprisingly smoothly. My plan was to interview a phone salesman for the story I was writing on smartphones. Thankfully, that plan didn’t get altered too much.

It was 7 p.m. Monday night. The story was due 24 hours from now. I left work, stopped by my apartment for five minutes and ran out the door. After practicing my introduction a couple times to myself in the car, I finally got the nerve to go inside AT&T, and interview my first source.

“Hello, I’m a journalism student from UF doing a story on smartphones,” I started. “I was wondering if I could take a few minutes of your time and ask you some questions.”

“Sorry but we’re not allowed,” the AT&T man said. “You have to go through our media relations department.”

That’s great. Now what was I supposed to do? I had a few seconds of disillusion and panic but quickly snapped out of it. I didn’t need someone from AT&T. If they didn’t want to cooperate, I could just go to another cell phone shop. Luckily, T-Mobile was just across the street.

“Hello, I’m a journalism student from UF doing a story on smartphones,” I started. “I was wondering if I could take a few minutes of your time and ask you some questions.”

“Well, I’m pretty busy right now,” the saleswoman said.

My heart sank. I might as well walk out the door now.

“But let me ask someone else for you,” she continued.

I thanked the woman and gave her a big smile. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. She directed me to one of her co-workers, a young man named John. He looked as if he was being forced to do this interview and was worried about the length of the questions. When I assured him it would just be six or seven easy questions, he relaxed a little.

I took a seat in front of John and began my interview. I was nervous in the beginning, but John’s friendliness calmed me down. I was getting really good quotes while having a pleasant conversation with someone. Everything was perfect. Good thing because I didn’t have time for things to go wrong.

My First Independent Story

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Last week, I had my first glimpse into life as a reporter.

In MMC2100, I did my very first news story outside of class. The whole thing was stressful, to say the least. I had to come up with a story focus, tie in the source given to us, interview two additional sources, write the story and have it all done within five days.

When the realization that I only had five days to complete lab eight hit me, I was definitely worried. To make things worse, I would be in Orlando for three of these five days visiting my best friend. Time was not on my side.

Thursday came around sooner than expected. Dr. Dodd introduced to the class Rob Carr, the director of engineering services for the College of Journalism and Communications, and the first source for our stories. I got out my pen and notebook and anxiously waited for the interview to begin, envying all the people who had tape recorders and cursing myself for not buying one.

As Carr started speaking, the whole class simultaneously started scribbling. This did not stop until the last minute of class when the interview was finally over. My hand hurt from writing four pages of notes, and I’m sure many of my classmates were the same. I was tired from writing and was beginning to panic about story ideas, but at least I was finished with the interview. Phase one was complete. Now, onto the hard part.

Coming up with a story idea was the hardest part for me. I wanted something special, something different from the other 250 people in the class while still using the same quotes from Carr’s interview. This proved to be a lot more challenging than I thought.

After a day of brainstorming and asking people for advice, the best I could come up with involved the current trend of smartphones. This definitely wasn’t the epiphany I was waiting for but, due to time constraints, I decided to give it a shot. I had notes from Carr’s interview about wireless technology and the upcoming 4G network that could be included in the topic. I also planned on interviewing an AT&T salesperson and a student who owned a smartphone. But my story would have to wait until Monday. I had a two-hour drive ahead and was already running an hour late.