Self-worth. This word and how it fluctuates when I apply it to myself is something that characterizes my life. I tend to discredit everything I do because I tell myself that someone out there is doing better than me. I have always told myself I am not good enough or that somehow I could do better. Now I know everyone has some form of doubt within themselves, but mine has truly evolved alongside my writing. I started in Advanced English my freshman year and immediately felt out of place. I had always loved to write, but I was never good at putting my thoughts into words. When we did Socratic seminars, I scored high, and when it came to in-class essays, I did not. I considered dropping Advanced English for my sophomore year until I saw you could sign up for a class called Media Arts. This class was an intro to the junior and senior journalism class. I decided to take a chance and try something new. My writing became immensely better over that year. Now, as a junior writing this, I had to take journalism along with Advanced English III. I struggled tremendously to continue to be a great writer journalistically and in my English class. Now that the year is over, I can see how much these rigorous classes have pushed me to become a writer.
Journalism has taught me so many things, but most importantly, to fight for what I think needs to be heard. There were so many times in the past two years where significant events in the world and my community created a lot of false information to go around, and that is when I decided it was time to tell the truth through the story I was going to write. After I shifted from writing feature stories to opinion pieces, I realized how much of a voice I could have in some issues. The information I put out would affect some of the people who read the story, so it was important to write it correctly. I learned that your story is what you make. Yes, I'm aware of how corny it sounds, but honestly, it's your voice, so make sure you tell the story you think people should be reading.
I once went to the JEANC conference, and one of the speakers told us, "You write for the reader, but you also write for yourself. Don't forget that". This is something that I have used this entire year while writing and coming up with stories. I hope to take this with me throughout the following years of being a Journalist.
Journalism has taught me so many things, but most importantly, to fight for what I think needs to be heard. There were so many times in the past two years where significant events in the world and my community created a lot of false information to go around, and that is when I decided it was time to tell the truth through the story I was going to write. After I shifted from writing feature stories to opinion pieces, I realized how much of a voice I could have in some issues. The information I put out would affect some of the people who read the story, so it was important to write it correctly. I learned that your story is what you make. Yes, I'm aware of how corny it sounds, but honestly, it's your voice, so make sure you tell the story you think people should be reading.
I once went to the JEANC conference, and one of the speakers told us, "You write for the reader, but you also write for yourself. Don't forget that". This is something that I have used this entire year while writing and coming up with stories. I hope to take this with me throughout the following years of being a Journalist.