A New Experience

Manhattan, N.Y., May 12, 2009-I have only been pursuing journalism since I started college two years ago. Having only taken about three journalism courses and working for my school paper two semesters, I was eager to further my experience through the convergence course in World Journalism Institute.

When I first got here, I was really nervous and felt extremely out of my element. Being the youngest made feel a little anxious about being in the midst of these amazing professional writers and other journalists, but I was extremely ready to start learning and growing in my own writing. Each morning I wake up early to spend some time alone to have some prayer. Beginning the day by completely surrendering it to God was something I knew I needed to do right from the start because I knew I couldn't do any of this on my own.

The first few days were a great experience learning more about worldview and how to apply that to my future career in the newsroom and in the stories I am currently writing. It got me out of my comfort zone in a sense to give my opinions and thoughts about what we were talking about. I'm not usually one to speak up in class, so having the opportunity and speaking up at times helped me grow in that.

Our class critique for the press release assignment was one of the best experiences for me within the first few days. I learned a lot through my own critique and was also able to take in a lot from other people's articles. Learning from other established writers and talking about them together really helps in the learning process, even if it's a bit nerve-wracking at first.