It wasn’t hard choosing which English class I’d take this year. With influence from Mrs. G, and a prvious year spent in her class under my belt, I knew I wanted to spend another year in her class. Plus, I knew nothing about Journalism, and honestly was pretty tired of typical English classes. So the first day I walked in and was greeted Mrs. G for the first time that year, I didn’t really know what to expect. The introductory assignments were out of my comfort zone, but I knew they would be. Looking back, the first article I wrote was pretty simple and basic. What I write now compared to that, I’ve come a long way, especially for someone who isn’t a huge fan of writing. But still, I grew. With great teaching, it was easy to see that in journalism, a lot of work is needed, just for one article. The process is so important and it takes time and skill to master it. Right from the beginning, it was evident that writing in journalism is a detailed process that needs attention to write good articles. From learning about basic techniques, basic structures, the style, the diction, the research, the interviewing, the teamwork, the communication, the will to work hard, all of it. I may have been skilled in some of those areas, but journalism teaches them over and over again until it becomes second nature.

As a student, the process of it all is the most important thing I learned. I grew from not knowing much about it, to it becoming like something I always knew how to do. It helped me become more aware of what I write, and how I write it, as well as how group writing functions. The biggest thing I’ve learned about journalism, as a person, is that you can never stop writing about a topic. Even if the event has finished, the topic is always going to be talked about, and there’ll always be an opportunity to write about it. People will always want to know about a topic. I’ve grown and realized so much more about the world around me. It enables you to become more aware of what occurs in the news, in school, in the community, and the world in general. I know I can use this knowledge in the future. Whether my career finds me writing articles or not, the things I’ve learned in journalism will set me up to succeed. It has pushed me to work harder, it has forced me to get more creative, and it has made me dive deeper into the research. Not to mention, it has boosted my team working skills, because in this world those are always needed. I know with the things I’ve learned from this course, they will set me up for numerous successes later in life, no matter what they may be. I can’t thank  Mrs. Gordienko enough for constantly believing in me, for her passion about the course, and for her support in whatever we did! I, and every other student, wouldn’t be as good as we are without her teachings!