So it has been forever and a half since I have posted last, and I'm sorry! School has been out for a few weeks, but I just got back from my amazing trip to the University of Florida for a journalism program, plus a few days of disney at the end.
The program I participated in was about five days of workshops and lectures relating to journalism, specifically for high school students. There were only about 87 kids, and those 87 were divided into classes based on their interests. I was in the newspaper editors group, but there was also yearbook, writing, photography, and multimedia.
Each day consisted of a couple lectures and a couple class sessions. The lecture topics ranged from interviewing, blogging, photography, and everything in between. My class was very relaxed, and I loved it. We had a lot of discussions about staff management, communication between us and our administration, and proper style in formatting our papers and writing articles. I got a ton of really useful advice from editors from other schools, as well as my teacher, who was so nice. I definitely learned a lot and have a lot of ideas for next year's paper.
My goal, as I will be editor-in-chief, although it sounds extremely corny, is to make it the best it has ever been. Last year was not horrible, but I had a lot of issues with what went on. Our process was very inefficient. We also had horrible participation, which is near the top of my "Things To Fix" list.
So, besides classes and learning stuff, it was pretty awesome just living like a college student. This would include my three dorm-mates, who I clicked with instantly. We stayed up until like 2 am talking about the random-est things. But we had so much fun. I also made a lot of other friends, some of which live not too far from me. The good thing is that most of them want to go to UF, so there's a good chance that I will see them in the future.
What else did we do? Well, mattress surfing of course. Who knew sliding on a mattress down the hallway could be so fun?! Yes, I got a few scrapes, but let me tell you, it was SO worth it. We also had a dance party on our last night that was pretty crazy. It was on the 13th floor, my floor, and the top floor of the building. We were jamming out! Even our R.A.s joined in. However, it was a little loud, considering we had people on lower floors come up twice to tell us to turn it down :/ Needless to say, we had a lot of fun.
The food wasn't too bad, especially cause it was all-you-can-eat (although that isn't always a good thing) and the costs were included in our tuition for the camp. After the first few days we realized that the menu didn't change all that much, but nonetheless it was pretty tasty. The major downside was that we had to walk walk walk kinda far to get to the cafeteria, and there were about ten sports camps plus music and science camp going on. This meant trying to avoid getting run into by mini gymnasts and six foot tall basketball players while you were getting your food.
The last day was sad, especially when I had to say goodbye to all my new friends. But luckily they all have facebook, so we are able to keep in touch. Overall, it was an awesome trip, I learned a lot and I met a lot of cool people. And maybe it is just the beginning of my journey as a gator.......
Comments