WJMC.

A simple conference, which changed my life. I met so many amazing people, some who are sure to be life long friends. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to quite explain how grateful I am to have had this opportunity this summer.

I know I’ve already said it a million times, but if you helped me to get here, thank you.

This conference means so much to me. I never would have imagined myself as someone who would be interested in being a journalist, but after this week, I think I honestly could say I’d love to give it a shot at some point. I also realized that when I go to college, I really want to lean towards TV Production in my studies in college, as that’s really where my heart belongs. Maybe I’ll even double major in Communications, to widen my skill set that much more.

It’s a big world out there, but I really feel that I’m at least somewhat closer to being ready to go out there and create a name for myself.

To all of my color group friends, Orange Pride! I already miss you guys so much, if you ever need anything, let me know. I’ll be here. =)

I guess that’s about it. It seems sad that this is my last post on this blog, but I know I’m always going to have it so I can look back on my experiences.

I’ll end it by saying the words I feel like I can never say enough:
This trip was amazing, thank you. =)

As I’m sure you know, Friday was the last day of the conference. In the morning, we had our final color group meeting and received our certificates, solidifying our “graduation” from the program. As I looked around the room, I was surprised to find how close I’d become with those 25 people in just a few days. Sharing such an awesome experience really brought us together. (Orange Pride! =D)

After our meetings, we attended one last speech by Nicole Quiroga, who is a general manager of local telemundo stations. It was cool to end the conference with a speaker who is so very passionate about what she does.

After Ms. Quiroga finished, we finished with the same person who welcomed us to WJMC just 5 days before, Dean Flagel. He gave us some encouraging words about being a journalist, and using that power to spread peace. I found myself tearing up a little at the end, this conference was such an extremely fantastic experience for me, I never wanted it to end.

I have to finish this post by once again sending a huge THANK YOU out to everyone who helped me to go to WJMC. It was honestly one of the best weeks of my life, and I can’t wait to carry the things I’ve learned with me as I find my way in this world. Once again, thank you so much, I love you all. <3

Our second to last day of the conference was certainly an eventful one. 

Each student kind of had their own experience, depending upon whether they chose to make a congressional appointment to talk with a representative of their state or not. 

Before we got to that point, however, we had the chance to listen to two more speeches.

The first was on Student Press Rights, which I found interesting, since many schools seem to imply that student journalists don’t have the same first amendment rights that journalists do in the workforce.

The second session included another panel, and offered some insight into internships, how important they are, and how they can lead to a job with the same company.

After these two sessions, we traveled into DC once again, this time to visit Capitol Hill.

My personal experience there was really interesting, as I had the opportunity to go with my friend Jenna to visit one of her state representatives, Todd Platts (Pennsylvania). We talked with him about current political issues, as well as issues which he deals with that are close to heart.

After the meeting, we headed down to the Union Station to grab some ice cream, making it back just in time to get in on the last few group pictures in front of the Capitol building.

We then headed back to the Fairfax campus to get ready for the Gala, which was probably my favorite part of the day.

Once there, we had a wonderful dinner, took tons of pictures and then danced the night away. =)

The Gala reminded me a lot of Homecoming at my school, it really was amazing.

Overall, Thursday was another great day as a National Youth Correspondent. I was kind of sad as it came to a close, though, because I realized that it was our last full day. =(

Today was another awesome day of the WJMC.

The main highlight was the opportunity which our group had to attend a live show and taping of another for C-SPAN.

The first show, the Washington Journal, was completely live. My TV geek side was fascinated just with the fact that they were able to set up a few lights and cameras and, poof! They were ready to broadcast live to viewers across the country.

Both of the guests to the show discussed interesting topics, mainly political, such as the debate about the debt ceiling and the presidential race in 2012.

After the Washington Journal, we participated in a program lead by the CEO and founder of C-SPAN, Brian Lamb. It was cool to see so many of my peers participating in such a cool program. I really enjoyed how interactive Mr. Lamb made it, mostly allowing the students to do the talking.

After both of these sessions, we had the chance to have a press conference with the Special Assistant to the President, Josh Earnest. This session was also really interesting, as we were able to get some insight into the President’s views on current issues such as, once again, the debt ceiling and presidential race in 2012.

Post C-SPAN and press conference, we headed to the National Mall an had some free time to wander around and check out some of the museums in the Smithsonian. I had fun walking around with my friends, visiting both the Air & Space museum and the National Museum of American Indians.

When it was time to load the buses, we found ourselves caught in the pouring rain. Many of the students ended up getting soaked. I was able to stay mostly dry thanks to my friend being kind enough to share her umbrella with me.

Once we got back to the Fairfax campus of George Mason, everyone changed and then went down for dinner.

After dinner, we were able to listen to two sessions, each quite different.

The first, titled “Finding Chandra” was a story told by two reporters, Sari Horwits and Scott Higham about their experiences in covering the case over the period of about 10 years. I found the whole story to be very interesting and captivating. It’s so sad that a girl’s life ended so early, before she had the chance to really live. It was also really interesting to hear the ways that authorities could have better investigated and caught the killer much earlier on.

The second speech/session was put on by Dean Flagel. Dr. Flagel talked to us about College Admissions, a topic which is certainly very prominent in the minds of most at the conference, since we will be beginning the application process this coming fall. I found Dean Flagel’s speech to be not only hilarious, but really helpful. I’m definitely going to be carrying his tips with be as I start to apply to colleges this fall.

After Dean Flagel’s speech, we all had the chance to hang out for a little while, and then headed up to bed, closing another great day here at WJMC..

So far today, we’ve had yet another color group meeting and attended a session on Public Relations.

I was surprised at how interested I was in this presentation, because public relations is certainly not a career which I’m considering for my future right now. However, the discussion about social media a how influential it is not only in our personal lives but also in the business world, because it can really help companies and organizations to get their story and message out there.

This discussion also made me think about how social media could be helpful to me in starting to try to get my name, and in a way, my “brand” out there. I’m certainly going to be looking into joining LinkedIn and using other social media tools such as Twitter more often. After all, the connections that you make with people are really going to help you to get the places where you want to go, such as college, internships and careers.

***

Later on, we traveled to the National Press Club and listened to a panel led by Chuck Todd. The panel discussed what it was like to cover politics, some current political issues, and how they each became journalists as well as how they’d come to where they are today. Although these topics were interesting, I had to push myself harder than normal to focus because I’ve never been one to be highly interested in politics.

After this panel, we had a chance to listen to our Keynote Speaker, Ms, Hoda Kotb. Hoda was probably my favorite speaker of this conference. She had such a wonderful way about her that made her really easy to listen to, as well as being really funny. Her story of being rejected 27 times before finally getting that one “yes” was really inspirational. “You only need one person to believe in you” Hoda said. I hope that when I’m entering the workforce in a few years, I have similar dedication to whatever career it is that I decide to pursue.

After our visit to the National Press Club, we headed to the George Mason campus in Arlington. There, we had another color group meeting and then headed down to dinner.

After dinner, we had the opportunity to listen to a panel of young, successful people who are recent graduates of George Mason University. It was really neat to see how far they’d each come. I also found that this panel helped solidify some of the ideas already presented in this conference, such as the importance of internships, having skills as broad as possible, and the importance of social media today.

After this panel, our group had the chance to go into DC and take a moonlight tour of the monuments. I was really excited for this part of the day, but was actually a little bit disappointed. We only were able to catch a glimpse of the back of the White House before being shooed away by security guards (I later found out that this was because there were helicopters flying in, one very likely to be carrying the president). We did have the chance to see the Lincoln Memorial up close, but I was disappointed to find that we ran out of time before having the chance to see other famous places, such as the Vietnam Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and Washington Monument.

Regardless, DC was still absolutely beautiful at night, and it was a cool experience.

Hi everyone,

I apologize for not keeping up with my blog posts this week, it was really hectic and exhausting and I had trouble finding the time to write and then post each day. I did look at my notes and type up posts on my iPod on a flight which I was on yesterday, so I’ll be posting those shortly.

Thanks again for all of your support, and if you’d like to see pictures from this week, click here. =)

Hi everyone,

By the time that I finished re-typing my Sunday blog post and getting it up last night, it was really late and I needed to get some sleep because our day today is going to be really busy.

Right now, I’m on the bus headed  to the National Press Club, so I thought I’d work on this post and post it when I get back later today.

Yesterday was another awesome, jam-packed day here at WJMC. The main highlight of our day was a trip to visit the Newseum in DC. 

To be completely honest, I could go on for pages about this museum. It is definitely a place that I want to return to on another trip to DC, because there is SO much to see.

The thing that I enjoyed the most about the museum was how real and tangible the stories were within the museum. In the exhibit concerning 9/11, there was a piece of the North Tower included. For the Berlin Wall, there was an actual section of the wall itself. The fact that these things were included in the museum made the stories which the exhibits told so much more real and emotional. In a sense, you don’t have to imagine it, because it’s right there in front of you.

I was really impacted by multiple exhibits in the Newseum, including the 9/11 exhibit and the Politzer Prize Gallery. This museum really gave me a different perspective on journalism and the job of a reporter/journalist, regardless of the media which they use to communicate their message.

After returning from the Newseum, we went to meet with our color groups. My group had a really interesting discussion, covering topics such as 9/11 and whether we should have reacted as strongly as we did as a country, as well as if the government should be able to limit the press and how far those limits might go. This discussion was particularly interesting to me because although I agree with the idea that sometimes the fear of the unknown is worse than knowing, I feel that putting all of our government’s information out there could be potentially more hurtful than helpful should it land in the wrong hands. Thanks to resources such as the Internet in this day and age, it’s fairly easy for that to occur.

After our meeting, we went to dinner, and then attended two different sessions which we chose to attend the night before.

The two sessions which I chose to attend were photojournalism and TV production. I found both speakers to give very interesting presentations, as their careers are in things which I personally find interesting. The TV Production one was particularly interesting because she went into a lot of detail about her career, and TV Production is a field that I can easily see myself working in.

After these sessions, we were able to call it a night. Yesterday was definitely a great experience  in this conference, and I’m really looking forward to what still lies ahead.

Thanks for reading and all of your support, I would not be here without you all. Just that fact alone makes me more grateful than I can quite express. =)

I meant to post this last night, but after having some technical difficulties with the internet and not wanting to have to retype it at nearly midnight, I decided to just go to bed. So, here’s what I remember of what I typed the first time…

Wow, what a crazy day!

This morning I woke up in my room in Florida at 6:30, and now I’m sitting on my bed in a dorm at George Mason University working on this post at 11:30 at night.

After I left earlier this evening for our color group meeting, the rest of the night was pretty much non-stop. I can already tell that this is going to be both a fun and exhausting week.

The speaker of the night, Mr. Chris Cillizza, was awesome. He was really well spoken, and I found him to be quite easy to relate to. I really loved hearing his story, from where he started out to how he got to where he is now. His story really shows that you should go with something you’re passionate about, whether it’s a blog for a newspaper when they were unheard of or starting a social network such as Facebook. As he put it, “if you care about it, other people will to.”

I also thought that his comparison of journalism today to a buffet in Las Vegas was really interesting, but also bought up a great point that you should try to be involved in as many forms of media as possible to really get yourself out there.

After Mr. Cillizza finished speaking and the group was welcomed by Ms. Caitlin Shear and Dr. Andrew Flagel, we headed off in different directions to meet with our color groups.

In the group we worked on a skill that’s really, really important for leadership, especially in journalism: networking.

Overall, it was a great first day, and I’m excited to visit the Newseum tomorrow, because it will be my first time there.

Talk to you all soon! =)

I’m all settled in my dorm room, and really excited to get started with this week. I know it’s going to be an awesome experience. =D

I’ve been trying to figure out how to add pictures to this post, but I haven’t done so well with that so far. However, I did upload them to flickr, so click here if you’d like to check them out. =)

I need to go get ready for dinner, since it’s getting pretty close to 5. I’ll keep you all posted!

Today I went shopping with my mom and had the opportunity to get most of my clothes for WJMC together. I’m so excited now that it’s less than a month away.. It’s going to be fun dressing as a professional too. hehe =)

It’s really going to be such a great experience, and I can’t wait to leave for DC.. it comes closer each day! =D

Anyway, I just wanted to put a quick update out there for the wonderful people who have supported me, in case they were wondering how things were going. =)

Thanks agian for all of your support. ♥