Final Thoughts on J2150A

As my summer class for journalism comes to a close I can’t help but remember about the night before the class actually began back in May. I remember being so excited and nervous all at the same time. This was my first 2000 level journalism class and it was based around technology, my favorite thing. This class was so much more than I expected and I truly appreciate being able to take it this summer.

There are copious amounts of lessons about audio, video, photography, AP Style writing, grammar, and journalism in general I could discuss as to what I gained from this class. I’ve decided I want to focus more on lessons learned that caused my personal growth.

1. Being forced to talk to strangers and really push boundaries to create something amazing.

• This class forced me to enhance and use my personality to the fullest capacity. I am a very talkative person but I was able to hone in on that and use it to push boundaries when working on projects.

1. Taking a step back and trying to look at things in a different light.

• I utilized this when thinking of different aspects of the story and in photography. If we would all just take a step back and think how can I make this better or how can I add to this story even more? What am I missing? People would be surprised what our brains come up with if they are pushed and we allow ourselves to think outside the box.

1. Appreciate and take in all the lessons about audio, video, photography, AP Style writing, grammar and journalism in general.

• I can honestly say coming into this class I thought I had a pretty decent idea about writing, photos and videos. I was surprised at how much I really didn’t know and how much I learned that I will use throughout my career as a journalist no matter the direction it takes me. Kids our age always like to complain about lower level classes and how we won’t use anything we learn until we are in our upper level classes. In journalism that is definitely not the case. This class showed me the lower level classes are building blocks for everything we learn in the future. The classes are only there to prepare us.

As for things I wish I had learned I can’t really think of anything. This class was structured very well for being taught in such a short amount of time. I also think that has a lot to do with how wonderful J2150A’s professor is. A teacher can truly make a huge impact on how students learn and Professor Hendricks has outdone herself.

My proudest multimedia moment is the photo’s for my Humans of Columbia project. I was so nervous to take the pictures of people especially the one of Max. He was so nervous and I was able to make him laugh and get a great shot out of it.

This class has really opened up my eyes to how amazing the Missouri School of Journalism is. I look forward to all my future classes and will certainly miss this class a lot.

Below is a video of me giving advice to future students: