It's always sad when the last class finally blows in, and you realize that the tight knit circle of people you never knew will soon be unraveled. I'm never sure if I'm sad because it's the end, and endings are always bittersweet, or if maybe for awhile, I was surrounded by the comfort of having someone teach me something new, instead of having to figure it out for myself.
The classes that seem to combine both into one are the ones that are important. I still remember how scared I felt when, in my Intro to News Reporting class, we were assigned to go out and ask people about lowering the drinking age. Until that point, journalism was a curiosity, something I didn't know too much about and I really didn't know how to get information that well. Talking to strangers alone felt terrifying. But eventually, I grew, and I learned that people liked to talk. I had no reason to fear their rejection or their answers.
On the first day of my narrative journalism class, we had to go out and find a story. He didn't tell us specifics, which meant we blindly walked around until something came along. I talked to this girl on line at the SUNY Card office, and she told me a lot about her life in the past six months. I felt this incredible amount of satisfaction, and a bubble of happiness surrounded me in the fact that sometimes I really could do my job.
There are others, such as my Public Affairs journalism class, where I got the chance to shake hands with the mayor, and my Advanced News Writing and Reporting class, where I walked the streets of Albany to talk to different people about Richard Bailey, that also challenged me and forced me to learn. In my media ethics class, the infamous Jayson Blair talked to us about his life since his resignation at the New York Times, and we constantly challenged the rules of the media, wondering where the line was that journalists have to constantly avoid in order to bring true and fair reporting to the forefront.
Next semester, I start my internship at the Legislative Gazette downtown, which means I won't have the luxury of sitting in a classroom here on campus. It's going to be sad, yet a stepping stone for the start of the rest of my life. I'm nervous, yet excited, hopeful to be successful, yet prepared to make mistakes. I don't know what it will be like, but I know that these past five semesters have definitely been amazing. Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way and to all the professors who probably don't remember my name, but led me to an amazing opportunity in my life. It was worth it.
