As I sit in the school TV studio, typing this letter, I realize that it is hard for me to look back on how I’ve improved. I say that knowing just four years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do in life. I had no hobbies, no favorite courses, no reason to have high grades, nothing. I believe it all started when I began my third trimester of my freshman year of high school. I enrolled in a class called Video Production 1, with Mr. Nathan Bush. I thought that there was nothing special about the class and it was just another way to graduate faster. But as I started working on the final project, which was making a music video, I found a curiosity for the creative freedom I was given. This area of creativity felt like a new way I could express myself and shape the narrative of the stories I create. I finished that course wanting to do more. I realized I could share with others the stories hidden behind every corner. 

Starting my sophomore year of high school, I was invited by Mr. Bush to attend the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Great Lakes Broadcast & Sports Media Academy at Ford Field. Mr. Bush gave me a chance to view an area of journalism first-hand, and it intrigued me more than just taking a simple technology class. Once I took Video Production 2 that year, I could center my ideas toward the projects I made with others. In that class, I learned how to properly light interview subjects, how to adapt different styles of a story, and how to prepare an interview for a 10-minute documentary. I didn’t like all of the things I learned; I loved it. Finishing my sophomore year, I knew that I wanted to enter the field of journalism. Once the opportunity arose, I signed up for all of the high level journalism classes offered at my high school. I enrolled in the video centered courses taught by Mr. Bush, such Video News Production: SHS Today, Video News Production: Hornet Nation, and the writing-centered Yearbook course, taking up three out of the five hours of my day, all for my junior year of high school. My knowledge of video production helped me to manage the social media accounts for the Yearbook program, producing videos for the class and promoting that year’s book. With more experience in graphic design that same year, Mr. Bush gave me the opportunity to redesign the current logos of both SHS Today and Hornet Nation. I then spent my entire summer gaining experience in Adobe Illustrator, designing logos, learning advanced techniques in Adobe Premiere Pro, and teaching myself how to use Adobe After Effects--even buying a course and compendium book just for learning how to make motion graphics. I wanted to take what I learned and be ready for anything that came my way once the first day of school came. My excitement and eagerness might have been hard to control at that time, but it was more than worth it. I entered classroom C244 ready to take on the world, and after some pulling back down to earth, I started Boot Camp for Video News Production. 

Over the course of two months, I learned how to create a dynamic story through packages, whether general or sports-related. Once bootcamp was completed, we started our show cycle for both shows. Sometimes I feel like I made a great package, forming the story around the subject for other students to see. Other times, I either rushed a package, forgot a camera battery, or filmed an interview overexposed. 

"Either way, I learned from the mistakes I made and got through that class wanting to do more." 

After I entered my best projects for the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) Individual Contest, I sat at my home with my mother, watching and waiting for my entries to come up. I watched the screen as each one of my early submissions got labeled as "Honorable Mention" for one category to another. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting in anticipation for something, anything to come up. Then, “VP-01 Commercial.” I knew I had entered something for that. I looked for my name. I wasn’t 3rd, I wasn’t 2nd, I was 1st. I jumped out of the couch and screamed with joy. 

I knew that I could improve more the next year. At the end of my junior year,  I gained Adobe Certified Professional certifications in Premiere Pro, Photoshop, After Effects, and Illustrator. I wanted to prepare myself and learn as much as I could. And as a second-year student, I hoped to lead other students in Video News Production to create content that exceeded expectations. And I believe I have! I am now one of the producers for Saline High School’s sports news show, Hornet Nation; I have learned how to craft the stories that I produce; I toured and job-shadowed with Jason Colthorp, a news anchor at WDIV Detroit; and I was a color commentator for WJR at a high school football game sponsored by SportsCaster.com. Now I’m planning on going to Washtenaw Community College, majoring in Journalism, and considering transferring to Eastern Michigan University for Media Studies & Journalism afterwards so that I can become a news reporter at WDIV. I always enjoy looking toward the future, but I guess it’s not that hard to look back on how I have improved. 

That’s what I’ve done in high school, and I know that I am more than ready to take on the world of journalism, whether that be producing a high school football game on WJR 760 AM, or sitting in front of a desk ready to go on the air. I know what I want to do in life now, and these will be my aspirations now and after high school.