A professor once told me that once journalism gets into your blood, it doesn't leave.
At this point in my life, I couldn't agree more.
Ever since I was in high school, I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life.
I wanted to be a copy editor. That was the one thing about my life that I was certain of.
I got through my first two years of college as a journalism major with the same goal, a goal that was intensified after winning the position of head copy editor for my school paper last year.
Spring semester of my junior year, my goal became less appealing.
I was on my way home from a class when I received a Twitter notification on my phone saying that my advisor had tweeted to me. When I saw what she had tweeted, my lips pulled back into a huge smile.
Ever since I started my junior year, I had been telling my adviser that I was very serious about finding an internship, specifically a copy editing one, of course. I had gotten a fall internship with a magazine that I wasn't too crazy about and was now ready to a step closer toward my ever-so-precious goal.
I guess my adviser remembered how eager I was to get a copy editing internship because her tweet letting me know that the local newspaper was looking for a copy editing internship, following by about a hundred exclamation points. I was so excited! I jumped on the opportunity as soon as I got home, hooked an interview that week and started my copy editing internship shortly after.
After a few weeks, I found myself not enjoying what I was doing at the internship.
Maybe it was the hours?
I was there from 6-10 p.m.
I had had two internships prior to this copy editing internship, and they both started in the morning, so the change of time was a bit different, even though I was used to working all through the night as a copy editor for the school paper.
Maybe it was the people?
There are only five people tops there when I'm there a couple nights out of the week. They are older and hardly talk to each other, not even to say "Bless you" when someone sneezes. To come from a work environment at the school paper that is loud, crazy and chaotic is the best and most organized way, to this dullness, is just a shock. A bad shock.
Maybe it was the reality of the situation?
Copy editors never get the spotlight. They are last ones to thank when things go right and the first ones to blame when things go wrong. I knew this and was fine with it, until my internship. I realized that as a college student and member of a school paper, I have a lot of freedom. Even though I am a copy editor for the school paper, I am still allowed to write articles and contribute in more ways than one. In the real world, I don't think those things are allowed. I feel very unsatisfied when I interned at the local paper. It made me realize that I don't think I could be okay with just editing.
Journalism is in my blood. I can't fight the urge to write and report.
While I was a bit upset at the sight of my long-loved goal diminishing, I am a strong believer of the saying "everything happens for a reason." I do believe that I had to experience what being a copy editor is really like in order to be ready for the next step in my career.
I don't know what the future holds, but I know I'll always be on the right track.
At this point in my life, I couldn't agree more.
Ever since I was in high school, I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life.
I wanted to be a copy editor. That was the one thing about my life that I was certain of.
I got through my first two years of college as a journalism major with the same goal, a goal that was intensified after winning the position of head copy editor for my school paper last year.
Spring semester of my junior year, my goal became less appealing.
I was on my way home from a class when I received a Twitter notification on my phone saying that my advisor had tweeted to me. When I saw what she had tweeted, my lips pulled back into a huge smile.
Ever since I started my junior year, I had been telling my adviser that I was very serious about finding an internship, specifically a copy editing one, of course. I had gotten a fall internship with a magazine that I wasn't too crazy about and was now ready to a step closer toward my ever-so-precious goal.
I guess my adviser remembered how eager I was to get a copy editing internship because her tweet letting me know that the local newspaper was looking for a copy editing internship, following by about a hundred exclamation points. I was so excited! I jumped on the opportunity as soon as I got home, hooked an interview that week and started my copy editing internship shortly after.
After a few weeks, I found myself not enjoying what I was doing at the internship.
Maybe it was the hours?
I was there from 6-10 p.m.
I had had two internships prior to this copy editing internship, and they both started in the morning, so the change of time was a bit different, even though I was used to working all through the night as a copy editor for the school paper.
Maybe it was the people?
There are only five people tops there when I'm there a couple nights out of the week. They are older and hardly talk to each other, not even to say "Bless you" when someone sneezes. To come from a work environment at the school paper that is loud, crazy and chaotic is the best and most organized way, to this dullness, is just a shock. A bad shock.
Maybe it was the reality of the situation?
Copy editors never get the spotlight. They are last ones to thank when things go right and the first ones to blame when things go wrong. I knew this and was fine with it, until my internship. I realized that as a college student and member of a school paper, I have a lot of freedom. Even though I am a copy editor for the school paper, I am still allowed to write articles and contribute in more ways than one. In the real world, I don't think those things are allowed. I feel very unsatisfied when I interned at the local paper. It made me realize that I don't think I could be okay with just editing.
Journalism is in my blood. I can't fight the urge to write and report.
While I was a bit upset at the sight of my long-loved goal diminishing, I am a strong believer of the saying "everything happens for a reason." I do believe that I had to experience what being a copy editor is really like in order to be ready for the next step in my career.
I don't know what the future holds, but I know I'll always be on the right track.
