The end of another chapter

In taking my final journalism course at UNC, I have learned a lot. It is so easy to get stressed and worried about meeting a deadline with a story that it can sometimes become frustrating attempting to find, and interview, a source. But, through writing feature stories this semester I have learned that the more flexible and overly friendly you are with sources, the easier it is to get great information. Kindness is a simple gesture that can help a journalist be a credible, trusting figure in the eye of the sources he or she interviews. This class has also taught me that sometimes things don’t go as planned, and it is important to think on my toes. The most helpful thing this capstone course taught me was how to work with online resources. The skills I learned through blogging and being part of a Web site, I believe I will use many times down the road.

Overall, as a journalism and mass communications major at UNC I have gained such valuable knowledge that will surely help with any career field I enter. At this point, I am slightly burned out on writing, especially on deadline, and I am leaning more toward a career in something other than journalism. The program did a wonderful job training me in various outlets of writing. The one negative aspect of the program was that I could only take one elective JMC course without going over my needed credits. It would have cost extra money, and a lot of it, to take more journalism courses. This is because the major is designed to require a substantial amount of university-wide credits to make us well-rounded students. But, with two JMC electives (one filled with a required internship) I was only able to take one film course. I feel I would have gained a lot from taking a public relations course and also a television-related course.

As I prepare to graduate in three weeks, I am overwhelmed by my whirlwind experiences I have had at UNC. Completing my undergrad in three years was no easy feat, but I set my goals high and am proud of what I have accomplished at UNC. My advice for future journalism students is to work hard in the first year and learn every valuable piece of information; it will help substantially in the upper level courses. Also, be open to every experience available at UNC and through your journalism classes.