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My Final Mastery Journal Entry

    I can't believe my journey is over; as I sit and reflect, it has been an adventure. I have learned a lot about myself and how to further my career as a journalist. Journalism is much more than news; it's the people that tell the story. I have genuinely made friends that will last a lifetime. I have a love and respect for the people of Green Gables. It takes creativity and courage to save something as precious as the Wells house during COVID 19. I will continue to report on events that concern this house and in the efforts to fund this house.           I can watch the news and dig deeper than ever before due to this course. I can also look at something concerning my beat and go full force into it. My stories on my site a few have been published onto different platforms and even published into magazines. While I am sad that I can't graduate in person, and that hurts. I can smile and pat myself on the back because learning to do journalism during a pandemic, and no contact is rough. It has been a journey, but it's only the beginning. I can't wait to keep adding to my blog one nature, one planet.  I feel like my voice can be heard, and I can't be silenced.  I can change the world one story at a time.  In this course, I learned that every great story needs a follow-up, and it doesn't hurt if you revisit the people a few years after the information is reported.   Keep your contacts happy and work tightly with them as you will not know when you will need them again.  My last piece of advice to myself and others, if you are rejected for an article, smile, and keep going, don't let yourself get down.

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Mastery Journal :Social Media Engagement

     This class has made me work extremely hard and think outside the box. I misjudged this class and thought it would be most comfortable. I was wrong in a lot of ways. Social media is reaching an audience that is not faced to face and meeting their expectations. I had three goals in this class. The first being to improve my FaceBook page, and I did accomplish this, I gained five followers. My second goal was to learn more about Twitter. I did this, and I have a long way to go. I knew about Twitter, but to gain followers reading my articles was a great feeling. The best feeling in the world when I had my first article retweeted by an organization. I was feeling on top of the world, and no way I was coming down. Finally, my last goal was to be open to learn any new social media sites. I did this by learning about Reddit, and that was my biggest challenge. I am not a huge fan of Reddit and don't know if I ever will be.

The greatest thing I learned from this class is that a great story is all around. We have to keep our eyes open to see it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGrHCdGIuoE&feature=youtu.be.

So many people rely on the news through reading on FaceBook, Twitter, and other sources. I also found it interesting that when I had to write a post for Reddit that I had to write to appeal to a man. The reason is that most of Reddit's users are men.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZx0NPA3hVA&feature=youtu.be. Finally, I learned about improving my Instagram to reach a new demographic using photos. I had been using Instagram but not doing it correctly. I wasn't adding enough characters.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK8aBtQlXME&feature=youtu.be.    

I will use the fact that you can reach anyone on social media if the story is engaging and the graphics are colorful. For instance, Twitter, I can engage my audience with a few short words and a graphic. On the other hand, Facebook, I can engage with a longer post. I think this class was informative, and I would highly recommend it even if you aren't in journalism.  

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Mastery Journal-  Multimedia Reporting

I enjoyed this class and learned so much from this class that grew me as a journalist.  When I had to revisit my stories, it made it memorable.  COVID-19 may have still somewhat limited me to how I had to do stories, but I have learned how to utilize equipment like Zoom and Twitter.  I found when revisiting the stories that I had previously wrote allowed me to expand one of them and further develop the story.  My favorite story was the one I featured Lakota Burge and The Augustin Foundation.  I felt an obligation to not only Lakota but Billy, whom the foundation was created for.

           In a time of a pandemic, this foundation is being just getting off the ground and had to be sidelined due to closure of Florida.  I was lucky to talk to Lakota which was Billy’s fiancé, a doctor, and a Billy’s mother.  To have this story told in three different angles, made me smile.  I just hope that the story made Billy proud, I also knew very little about Cystic Fibrosis.  I was amazed with interviewing the doctor that there is progress, but no cure.  I learned a lot of useful information about respiratory diseases like Cystic Fibrosis.

           In the future, I hope to use more than one media form to tell a story.  I also, learned that it is never too late to revisit a story.  I also took out of this class, that stepping out of your story comfort zone is not a bad thing.  It allows you to stretch your wings and not box yourself into a corner with one subject. The one on one story challenged me and yet it is still one of my favorite stories for this class.  I learned how to push my limits and not settle for an assignment.

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Mastery Journal- Digital Media

I learned a lot about what I need to work on and fix to be a better journalist.  I expected to be pushed hard but this journey was insane.  I learned to watch a news program in new eyes.  Each person is vital to make the story happened, from videographers to the reporters.  Most importantly the people themselves have a story that needs to be told.  I think having to put my feet in all those roles made me appreciate their jobs a whole lot more.   The story I got the most privilege writing and filming was the high school graduates of my town.  Two days after I filmed that story someone stole one hundred of the signs and dumped them in the river.  So, my piece was in a sense a tribute piece.  It will hold a place in my heart.  I struggled with time management, and since being in a lockdown situation I have lost track of days.  I struggled in weeks one and two, but by three I was placing sticky notes near my computer and had myself a schedule.   This course taught me to take a risk, and that’s what news is all about.  I also learned with wanting to be an environmental journalist, this means looking at the people and how they live along with nature and not just nature.

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My  Journey in Digital Media Production

I learned a lot about what I need to work on and fix to be a better journalist.  I expected to be pushed hard but this journey was insane.  I learned to watch a news program in new eyes.  Each person is vital to make the story happened, from videographers to the reporters.  Most importantly the people themselves have a story that needs to be told.  I think having to put my feet in all those roles made me appreciate their jobs a whole lot more.   The story I got the most privilege writing and filming was the high school graduates of my town.  Two days after I filmed that story someone stole one hundred of the signs and dumped them in the river.  So, my piece was in a sense a tribute piece.  It will hold a place in my heart.  I struggled with time management, and since being in a lockdown situation I have lost track of days.  I struggled in weeks one and two, but by three I was placing sticky notes near my computer and had myself a schedule.   This course taught me to take a risk, and that’s what news is all about.  I also learned with wanting to be an environmental journalist, this means looking at the people and how they live along with nature and not just nature.

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Mastery Journal

In this class I learned a lot about myself and what I was really capable of in the field of journalism. ;There is a lot of time and dedication that really goes into each story that is told.  I can now really watch a news story and appreciate the value of each story.  

      I had three goals while entering this classroom experience learn the difference between newsworthy and not so newsworthy stories.  I also wanted to find a story to tell that would be worthy to tell.  Finally my last goal was to learn to interview people effectively.  I wrote two articles and the first one was good, but held very little newsworthy content. While my story was about a woman who created clothes out of trash, it held a positive message about recycling.  

       The second article was about air pollution during the Coronavirus pandemic.  This was an article that a lot of people cared about and needed to hear.  Everyone is listening about the negatives on the Coronavirus, and I felt that I needed to shed some positive light.  This also connected me to my second goal, when I researched a story and I found the site that led me to more interesting topics about the environment.

         I found sources that shared a same fire about protecting the environment.  I enjoyed reading and researching different articles.  Then finally,  I have learned how to interview people using different platforms.  I have interviewed people face to face, over social media and video calling.  I had to get creative because of the coronavirus.  I am going to take this class with me for sure.  

     I am able to watch a news program and know the amount of dedication and hard work that goes into each segment.  I am more than ready to take on important information. I can’t wait to be a reporter, and hit the road running.