By: Dayshia Stratton
Have you ever found yourself going to the internet to check your sources when you hear or see certain things about the world? Do you like to research or write on your own? Do you want to try something different just for the heck of it? Well then, Journalism is the right class for you to join!
Journalism gives you the opportunity to do all of those things! “You get the opportunity that you do not get in other classes, you get to make this class your own,” said Joshua Jovanelly, the sponsor and teacher for Agua Fria’s Journalism class.
Journalism class does not feel like any regular class. It is more of a class that helps you develop skills that you can carry on into the future. Journalism pushes you to improve your social skills because you need to be able to conduct interviews in order to be able to write your stories. We create articles through this method: Come up with an idea, set up and conduct interviews (if needed), write the article, and send it to your respective editor. We write stories based on 4 categories: news, opinion, sports, and lifestyle.
Sports is one of the reasons Kallie Swanson ,the sports editor, joined the class. “I always loved sports and I knew that they wrote sports” she said, “The demand for sports writers is so huge and not a lot of people want to do it.”
Roles are chosen the first week of class. If you are confident with your grammar and leadership skills, you can be the editor-in-chief or one of the category editors. If you want to just be a writer, there is that option too. The roles are set into place so everyone has certain levels of responsibility. It allows for you to see from another student’s point of view where you need help with your writing. If you are a writer you do not have to stay in the same category that you signed up for.
News editor Clinton Barney joined journalism for the fact that it pushes you to gain or improve necessary life skills. “I joined journalism to step out of my comfort zone because I knew it would force me to talk to someone I don’t really know or learn new experiences,” he said.
Some students have said that since they have been in journalism, it has helped them in some other classes. Hope Laborin, Editor-in-Chief, said, “Journalism helps me study because it makes me want to ask questions that I will actually get information from”.
Journalism has helped some students realize their writing styles and learn how to present themselves to other students and teachers when in a classroom.The world becomes so much more interesting when you are in journalism because you can write about anything going on in the world. There is always something going on to the point that it is impossible to not be able to write anything. “You are given more freedom to write things, not necessarily stories but write about news and what you are interested in,” Lifestyle editor Antwan Salinas said.
You become more involved with what is happening and care more about the events happening within your community. Being a journalist has made many students want to become more involved with the news of their community.
“We need true information and fact based information,” said Mr. Jovanelly, “Journalism is the only thing that can guarantee to give that to us.”
Journalism is a class that will actually help you prepare for adulthood. It teaches you life skills like ownership, leadership, and social skills. It also brings out your strong skills from other classes. If you are good at history, writing, or government it shows those skills prominately. “Journalism gives you the ability to write whatever you want, to a certain extent, as long as it is reasonable,”said Kirsten Myers, a second year journalism student.
There are other benefits offered by joining a journalism class such as it can be included on a resume for work or for colleges. It shows that you have a sense of leadership and ownership because not anyone can be a good journalist. Journalists are passionate people who are interested in the world around them. Journalist are good sources for people to be able to get the correct information about the world.
Another benefit that journalism offers is the chance to speak for others. “You get to be the source of information for your fellow classmates. You get to tell your classmates stories,” said Mr. Jovanelly, “Nobody else gets to do that besides yearbook, who does it once a year.” Journalists of Agua Fria get to update their classmates about anything and everything all year long.
The journalists in the class work together as a team. Everyone helps each other and does not mind helping others because this class is not set up like any regular classroom. The students who have joined the journalism class all really enjoy it and the way it works!
Journalism is a very enjoyable class that allows you freedom, within the school limits, to write about what you want for the student body and staff to follow up on. Anyone who joins this class will truly enjoy it because there is no such thing as a clique in the class and everyone works together. Journalism brings out good qualities of a person and has helped many students become more involved and interested in the world around them.
If you cannot fit the class in your schedule, then you can always join the Journalism club. Club meetings are on the first Wednesday of each month in E1. Everybody is welcome, so feel free to drop by.
