I'm sorry this post has been so delayed, especially since it has be anxiously anticipated. I'm back from Indiana, HSJI, Journalism Camp, whatever you'd like to call it. I had a lovely time, and I'm sad to say I wish I was still there (though I did enjoy coming back to my comfy bed and my own private bathroom).
I had a lot of fun while I was there. The girl I was supposed to go with got sick at the last minutes, so I knew absolutely NO ONE. I tried to remain calm on the outside, but inside I was definitely nervous as heck. Fortunately for me, people up north are very friendly and welcoming, so I had no trouble making friends with people.
I didn't see much of my roommate for the first day, but by the evening we had finally met each other and things weren't so awkward. She was from Lafayette (spelling?) and she was doing the Yearbook part of the workshops. Our dorm room wasn't too bad. Not as spacious as my room here, but it wasn't too bad. We each had our own desks and closet space with shelves and stuff. Unfortunately for me, I only brought a sheet for sleeping, considering it's summer and supposed to be hot. Well just my luck when it ended up being the coldest summer for like the past fifty years or something like that! Not only that, but I packed all shorts, tank tops, and t-shirts. Only one pair of jeans besides the ones I wore on the plane. After the first day I was fine though, and it warmed up a little.
My days consisted of two lectures and two class periods, with varying activities each night. Our lectures just had to do with different stuff involved in newspapers, like designing the page, writing stories that people want to read, changing technology and its impact on media, and some other stuff as well. Our class periods were done in our small groups; mine was section/page editors. It was a good group and my teacher was really layed back. And the best part? I think we were the only group that didn't have a final project. I was really happy about that.
In our group we talked about managing staff, budget lines, story ideas, etc. The whole newspaper group held a writing contest, too. It had to do with a lecture we had. One of the professors from the University came and spoke about the religion of Islam (he was also the president of Bloomington's Islamic Center). With him came Muslims of different ages and ethnicities, including some from Turkey and others that had converted. We were able to interview them after the lecture to get info for our articles.
For the contest you could write either a column, staff editorial, feature, or news story. I chose to do a column, which is like an opinion piece. I talked briefly to a Muslim girl that was my age who had actually been at HSJI the week before. I thought it was kinda cool that she had a hair streak like me.
After waking up early and sacrificing my breakfast for the day, I finished my article. And guess what? I won first place in column writing for the contest! I was really happy, especially since my parents were there when they announced my name at the closing ceremony. I'll put a link to my essay on here so you can read it too.
Download Muslim-catholic editorial
This trip was definitely a learning experience. I got so many good ideas for our student publication next year, but I also learned some stuff about myself and my future in journalism. I realized that I don't want to be a writer. Though I may be good at it (not to brag), I don't have the passion I think I should. I also don't like having to do sources and quotes and boy am I lazy? hahaha.....I most certainly am. I think I may want to focus on the visual aspect of journalism, like photography or design. One of our lectures was about photography, and it definitely gave me a different view of photojournalism. Another one of our lectures, like I already mentioned, was about layout and page design. I liked that lecture a lot too, and I could definitely picture myself doing that in the future.
Who knows? I may change my mind yet again. But everyone does that. Especially teenagers. Both of my parents are doing things COMPLETELY different from what they originally planned to do. Dad: movies to property management. Mom: nutrition to computer programming.
Well enough of this "future" talk. All I want to think about is my last month of summer vacation before I am forced to return to............that place. That place that shall not be named because I can't stand the thought that this glorious summer is going to have to end at some point. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip. More to come since family will be here in two days and I'll actually be doing something other than sitting at home all day wishing I was doing anything but :)
