When told to reflect on my time with Next Generation Radio, I can only say one thing. I know nothing. It’s not that I didn’t learn or take full advantage of this program. It’s simply that I didn’t know as much as I thought I did about the journalistic world.
I came into this program expecting it to be a life-altering program, and it most certainly met that criteria. I came in with a vague notion that I wanted to be a journalist, I had grandiose concepts and outlines for my future, but now, with the help of this program, my future is in clear view.
I now see myself becoming the journalist I want to be. It’s no longer this vague idea that could vanish with the faintest whisper. Instead, it’s flesh and blood ready to take stride into the unknown world that awaits me.
I feel confident in myself and the skills I have gathered with my time here in this program. Even while I write this, I sit next to a page full of notes and future ideas that I can make a reality. All thanks to this program.
This project was not easy. It pushed me each and every day. It took hold of me and consumed my entire time, day and night. I would work first thing in the morning and then spend the rest of the night thinking about the work I created and where to go from there. Then, before I knew it, the week was over.
As I sit here writing this paper and truly reflecting, I find myself looking back. When I first applied, it was on a whim. It was given to me by my professor as an opportunity that he believed would benefit me. It’s on that belief that I acted and sent my application in, not expecting to be sitting here writing this now.
Each step of the process, I couldn’t believe I made it, that I made it, a simple, hopeful student with only a dream that I hope to make a reality one day. Yet, I sit here now writing this with confidence that those dreams will become a reality one day.
I know I’m not perfect and that I will spend the rest of my life learning new things, experiencing what life has to offer. But the training and opportunity that this program provides has given me the strength, resolve, and footing to pursue my future with bold and stridden steps.
