Newspaper Staff Field Trip

Last weekend, members of The Channels staff and I were given an opportunity to extend our knowledge of journalism. This event is called JACC, Journalism Association of Community Colleges. Professional journalists from places like the LA Times and NBC 4 News came to educate and inspire us about the world of journalism.

Friday morning we met at SBCC. The conference wasn't until Saturday, but the staff agreed that visiting Grand Central Market and the LA Times would be ideal. Out of all the food options at Grand Central Market, my friend Julia and I decided to get tacos because saying no to Mexican food would be outrageously silly. The LA Times was fascinating to tour. It reminded me of the movies you see of people in big offices with hundreds of cubicles and a big meeting room.



The rest of the night we spent getting situated into our hotel room, walking to a buffet, and chatting like newspaper nerds in the jacuzzi. Before I went to bed that night, I studied for the competition that I thought I was going to participate in at JACC.

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to breaking news on TV that Hillary Clinton's investigation case was being reopened. What a way to start the day! We scurried onto the bus and headed off to Cerritos College where the SoCal Regional JACC was being held.

Alice Walton, LA Times Reporter, welcomed the conference. Last minute I was informed that I was not going to compete for the opinion story, but instead a news story. I freaked out. Usually I am confident in my work, but seeing all the other journalism students from around California left me feeling intimidated.  

None the less, I competed. Personally I already focus an extremely generous chunk of my time writing my leads and my teacher told us we should make sure the top of our stories are attention grabbing. However, the competition only gave us 45 minutes to write the story. I can write really smoothly and fast when it comes to my opinion, but writing facts about news can take a lot longer due to the crucial obligation to get all the facts correct. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to complete my news story. The important thing is I was proud of what I had and I learned that I need to manage my time better when I have only minutes to write a story.

During the day, we were given different workshop choices to attend. Since I competed, I was able to go to three of them: branding, broadcasting, and social media. Jorge Medina, the branding workshop instructor, taught me not to be afraid of being confident in my accomplishments. Matthew Glasser, the broadcasting instructor, taught me what it'd be like to work behind the camera. Frank Russell, the social media instructor, taught me how journalists use social media.

The trip ended with an award ceremony. Our city college won multiple awards for the night, leaving my teacher extremely proud and leaving me inspired and confident in my future as a journalist.

Here is a link to my most recent personal column in The Channels newspaper!
A golden girl in a pink world: Living through childhood cancer