Personal Statement on Journalism

Every committed journalist roughly knows when it all clicked—the general time-frame when they caught the “journalism bug” and were hooked into a life of coming up with headlines, searching transcripts for quotes, and watching deadlines fly by despite their best efforts. 

I, however, know the exact moment. It was late February of my freshman year, and I was getting bored of Journalism. During my first semester of the class, after seeing our website’s lackluster social media presence, I volunteered to become social media manager and take full control of our Instagram page. I approached this role with intense passion, creating multiple weekly series for Instagram’s Stories and Highlights feature, shifting posts from focusing exclusively on new stories to announcing separate school news, and meticulously sharing every single new article on the page’s story. This process, despite how much it boosted our social media presence, was exhausting. It involved mindlessly editing the same templates in Canva daily, and by February I was dying for a change. Luckily for me, the Boys Varsity Basketball team had achieved a monumental buzzer-beater upset in the first round of the New England tournament, and I was the first to claim the story. Due to the quick turnaround before the next game, I only had a day to write the article. So I got to work. I conducted interviews during the breaks in my schedule, contacted people for media from the game, and (although I’m not entirely proud of this) wrote the article during other classes. By the end of the day, I had a 600+ word article that was ready to publish. However, the best part of the day wasn’t finishing it, it was realizing the thrill of the process. I had found the same adrenaline and flow that I usually only felt during soccer in writing, something I didn’t know was possible. 

After this, I was committed to journalism. I wrote other sports pieces, expanded into video news coverage, and tried out feature-length articles. My efforts didn’t go unnoticed, as by the end of my freshman year I was promoted to Sports Editor. 

During my sophomore year I shifted my focus to feature writing instead of beat reporting (as most editors do), which I found extremely rewarding. I also decided to turn a dream of mine into reality—creating the site’s (and the school’s) first ever live sports broadcasting program. My adviser loved the idea, but was tentative about the cost of streaming software he had seen at other schools. So I did research and found out that it was possible to not only stream for free on YouTube, but to have an advanced software and graphics setup as well. To achieve this, I taught myself how to use Open Broadcast Software (OBS) to manage the production. As time went on, I became increasingly familiar with the program and added more features such as instant replay, player focused graphics, a live scorebug, and on-screen stats reports. I also fell in love with the thrill of calling games with my co-commentator, finding the same spark that writing had first lit a year before. By the end of the basketball season, we had covered 19 games to glowing reviews from community members. This ranged from classmates and teachers who passed us in the halls, members of the administration who sent us emails, parents who couldn’t make it to games but cheered on from the live chat, and even the head of school who reached out to personally thank us for giving her a way to watch the games. These messages made me realize the direct impact journalism can have on a community.

Now, in my third year as a journalist, I am continuing to explore the things I love most. I’ve continued my passion for commentating outside of school, calling games with a professional freelance broadcaster, even in sports I am less familiar with. This experience has taught me so much about the excitement and quick-thinking a commentator needs to excel, skills that I have brought back to my own streams. I’ve written more features and created more Gator Nation News (GNN) videos, honing my craft in each one. Yet I’m most proud of my work as an editor. Working in a newsroom full of younger, less experienced writers, I’ve been able to help my writers find their spark just like I did. Seeing them grow from needing multiple rounds of edits before their first pieces were ready, to now being able to push out articles like pros has been incredibly gratifying. 

When I first walked into the newsroom, I wasn’t sure if journalism was right for me. I thought I would either fit into The Gator’s mold or not. However, I found that journalism wasn’t the mold, I was. I could shape my journey as a reporter into whatever I wanted. I could thrive crafting Instagram captions, holding a mic in front of a camera, telling people’s stories through a keyboard, or shouting “BANGGG!!!” from the sidelines.