When Beth Hundsdorfer and George Pawlaczyk walked into our small classroom, I was nervous.  The last time we had had someone in as a guest speaker, she had been hesitant to tell us her story, due to the disrespect she had received that morning from a late driver.  We had to step it up if it was the same .  However, I relaxed a little when they started doing most of the talking.  What they started telling us affected me deeply, mostly because they had investigated a story about how the Illinois DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) weren't doing their job properly and letting parents who obviously weren't able to be parents (like the infamous Jackie they spoke of, who gave birth to a child in a toilet).  If case workers let a child die, they were given very light punishments.  Due to George and Beth's story, a new law was set into place that made the punishments stronger.   If that has helped anything in the DCFS program, no one knows.  There were so many things I learned during their brief hour and a half talk, and one of which was about investigative reporting.  Any time I had ever heard about it before, I could have told you straight up that it was something I never wanted to do.  I never wanted to search around for clues,  possibly putting myself in danger, and I honestly didn't want to search around in public records for hours boring myself to death.  However, both of them made investigative reporting sound so much better than that.  

Beth Hundsdorfer told the class about a time when she had tried to interview an ex Olympian wrestler/Marine who was a suspect in his daughter's death (he was later found guilty of sexually  molesting another biological daughter for several years).  She had died from a seizure on a bus ride.  "I still laugh at this story," Hundsdorfer said.  She explained that upon arrival at the house, she had been friendly.  She had only pulled into the driver when the stepparents of the Marine started yelling at her to leave.  After she didn't immediately leave, huge dogs were set loose on her.  Obviously, she left.

Both Hundsdorfer and Pawlaczyk told their stories of past investigating and a tiny gear shifted in my brain.  It started to seem like something that I possibly would be able to do (not that this is a final decision, let me tell you.  I'm not sure I can be an investigator, as cool as that sounds).  Visions of me stopping criminals in their tracks and bringing out the greater good to the people ran through my mind.  They told us tips on how to ask questions (Pawlaczyk, back in the day, used a six pack to lure people to talk) and how easy it was to get into journalism.  I am now excited to see what kind of skills I can learn from this class.

taken from web