I’m starting to lose track of how many cover letters I’ve written, clips I’ve put together and times I’ve edited my resumé this week.
It’s internship application season in the School of Mass Comm, and anyone who plans on being successful post-graduation better be out there looking, applying and connection-building right now. All of this reminds me of my senior year of high school when I had to apply to colleges.
Make sure you fill out the application.
Pay the fees.
Send in your transcripts.
Write a kick-ass essay that shows them why you deserve to be there.
Yeah, I think it’s just like applying to colleges.
I’m realizing that with each program I apply to, I’m learning a little bit more about myself. When writing a cover letter, I have to ask myself why I’m applying for the program in the first place, and what is it about it that makes it so interesting and makes me think it will be beneficial? It’s not about the money for me (some of them don’t even pay), and I’m not even sure if it’s about the bylines anymore.
I’m looking for an internship because I want the real world experience, and to prove to everyone that I can handle a job in the professional work place. I want to tell powerful stories, present information to the public in new innovative ways, and to expand on all of the crazy ideas I’m being told in my journalism classes about where the media industry is headed.
Today in class we watched a storytellers presentation where the speaker was talking about how no one knows for sure where the field of journalism is going. People who say its dying are close-minded, and those who think it’ll grow beyond belief aren’t completely for sure either. But because nobody knows, the possibilities are endless.
To me, it’s kind of exhilarating walking into the realm of endless possibilities.
I like waking up every morning and never knowing what’s going to happen. It keeps things interesting, and being blind sided by the day-to-day can also lead to some pretty interested story telling. I’ve been asked a couple of times in the last week about what it was like being a Hearst Award Finalist last semester (top 20, breaking news competition), and I can’t honestly say that it changed my impression of that story at all.
What I do remember about the day that I wrote the story nominated for Hearst is this: I was sitting in the newsroom checking my Facebook, and the bloody piece of chicken photo was plastered all over my newsfeed. I couldn’t get away from it, and fellow students were commenting, liking and sharing that photo all day long. I think by the time we went to print, the likes were in the thousands and the shares and comments in the hundreds. It was crazy watching it all happen, and because it was the talk of campus for the day, it became a story.
I dug deeper on that story than simply reporting that students were pissed off. I tried talking to dining to see what their stance was on the issue. I met with the student who posted the photo to find out what he thought of the pic going viral. I looked through food service records, emails between dining and students about the incident, and parental complaints about why they’re spending thousands of dollars on a required meal plan for bloody chicken and poor customer service.
Through all of this, I was just trying to get a full perspective on the situation, and portray that perspective to readers. The 6 hour reporting process led to a front-page story that eventually led to bigger media outlets picking up the story, and dining making a bunch of changes in staff and policy that semester. Change had happened.
But the entire time this was happening, what I was doing didn’t feel like work, because it was what I love to do. I love seeing a good story come together, and informing other people of what’s going on around them. That’s what I want out of an internship — the opportunity to see good stories come together, and learn what it takes to make that happen at a professional media outlet.
There’s a fire in me to do more in the journalism field, and I am beyond excited and determined to fuel that fire.
I want to learn from the top editors, the groundbreakers and the Pulitzer winners.
I want to see my writing get ripped to shreds so that in the end it can later on become great.
I want to grow, learn and gain invaluable experiences that teach me a thing or two about journalism.
And since I want all this, I must keep going.
“Real growth comes from taking chances”
— Charlie McCormick
Today I realized that I’m taking quite a few chances this year.
I told my father I was going to get through this school year without any financial assistance from him, and so far he hasn’t had to take out any loans for my education.
I started up this blog again, and I took a leap and told my friends about it, who have all told me they enjoy reading it. It’s definitely surprising to me whenever someone says they enjoy reading my writing. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.
I stepped down from my job at the paper and am applying for other ones, as well as some summer internships. I have my first interview tomorrow, and while it’s not my first and most certainly not my last, I’m shaking in my boots just thinking about.
(I really am wearing boots right now, for those of you wondering.)
This afternoon was supposed to be my break/nap time since I decided to be a good student and get all of my homework done the night before. Instead, I was shopping for interview clothes, writing cover letters and compiling a portfolio of clips in hopes of looking somewhat prepared for tomorrow afternoon. I always get intimidated when I have to talk about myself. I’m pretty sure talking about myself is probably my worst and most hated talking point.
And the risk taking keeps on coming.
I’m currently searching for any opportunities available for me to get my writing published — especially beyond the USF spectrum. I’m planning a trip to leave the country this summer, and hopefully will be in the form of a volunteer abroad to either Ghana or Belize. And with all of these upcoming interviews, that means jobs and internships that can take me to an infinite number of places. I’m applying for gigs in cities ranging from Tampa to Dallas to D.C., and the possibilities are endless with doing so.
I think the spontaneity of it all is freaking out my best friend a little bit, because I have no idea where I’ll be this summer or what I will be doing. It scares me too, but I know it’s something that I have to do. I’m taking every chance possible, and seizing every opportunity afforded to me while I still can. I won’t always have the ability to dash halfway across the country for a temporary experience, but that’s what college is for.
It’s about taking these chances, learning what I like and don’t like, and finding myself somewhere in the midst of it all.
Driven By Daydreams 