Getting into journalism isn’t hard to do. If your school offers it, then you should take it. A journalism class gets away from the commonplace of a regular classroom setting. It allows one to not only tell a story but express themselves or others in ways of art. Journalism is the art of telling a story, whether it be yours or someone else’s.
There are over 400 schools in the United States that offer a class for journalism, and I believe everyone should at least try a class like journalism. Journalism programs allow students to work on their writing skills, attention to detail, interviewing, research, critical thinking, and many other skills. These not only help students prepare more effectively for college but, at the same time, can develop certain skills that help you in your career path as your life plays out. The skills you can learn in a journalism classroom are ones you can take with you on many different roads of jobs someday, and the list is broad.
Things like Newspaper and Yearbook allow students to work as a team while also working on their own personal tasks. This showcases many jobs that lead you to teamwork while also holding you accountable for your own individual part to play. In the classroom, that can mean turning in your story by the deadline, or in Yearbook, working on the pages you need done to help assemble the yearbook.
Once you develop your skills and move up classes out of an intro class, you get free roam most of the time. This means that the stories are based on you—not what is necessarily assigned, but what you find interesting, what you think should be heard, and the stories you think should be told.
If you aren’t willing to do the work, then classes like Yearbook and Newspaper aren’t for you. Deadlines are important, and when you’re in the class, your role isn’t a student; your role is a member of a team working for one central goal. That doesn’t mean there isn’t learning involved—there will most likely be outside assignments focused on your skills and learning new skills in the journalistic field. If you can’t prepare for a strong work ethic, you may need to work on it before entering the pace of a journalistic class.
There are many opportunities depending on where you are and what you are interested in. Whether you enjoy news reporting, sports, opinions, broadcasting, podcasts—the list goes on. There are many fields that follow the same path journalism takes you on. One that many find fun is photography, which allows you to tell a story through a lens. Art form after art form, skill after skill. I think that we need many major skills as adults, in the workplace, or in much of any career, and you can learn a lot of these skills from journalism. I think that everyone should try a journalism class at least once in their school lives. I believe anyone who tries will immediately enjoy the challenges, the work, and the talents they gain.
