My Reflection on Being a Student Journalist

Out of everything I could have been, I never saw myself as a journalist. Maybe it was the fact that writing an article did not seem very interesting, or that other possible paths I could have taken looked more appealing. So maybe journalism found me?

Freshman year of highschool I never read the quartely print issue the school magazine, The Muse ,would pass out during lunch, much less manage to find my way on to there website. I am sure I would glance through it at the open house, or if I knew my friend was featured, but at that point, it was only paper and text. But it is so much more. 

The next year, might I add spontaneously, I was now eligible to choose two tracks of communication, and I decided to join The Muse as a coverage staffer. I learned that being a journalist is more than just typing letters on to a Google Doc (ironic right?), and stories are more than just words gathered on a page. Journalism is a collaborative art form. From meeting with interviewees after their performance, and my pieces going through four cycles of editing before they are published, a story takes more work then what might be apparent to the naked-eye. My journalistic ability to dig deeper then what might be apparent; create comfortable environments with sources so they can willingly explain their viewpoints; and finally, being able to compile statitistics, sources, and humor to create a  story for my student body are skills that I have learned since being on The Muse, but are lessons that apply far beyond typing on my computer.

The skills that I have learned being a quality journalist have abundant uses throughout life. Willing to understand the minority viewpoints, asking informative questions, and staying curious, are all aspects The Muse has helped me expand upon.  

But what makes a successful writer, if it is not someone who consistently makes mistakes, but not the same one twice. One instance where I learned from my mistake was during an interview for my story "Lip Sync or Swim". I had met with the interviewee and was importing her response on to a Google Doc, when I realized that my transcription app had not picked up all of her quote. This made it difficult when trying to depict what she said, but I did the best I could, and followed up with her. Note I now always check to ensure my transcription service is doing its job correctly!