Nate Hite works in the audio booth during the show recording.
As we wrap up show 3, I start to realize that now, we are over halfway through the semester. And for me, it is the realization that I am done with over half of my last semester of graduate school. I am about to officially finish my formal education. And I am really looking forward to getting out into the real world, reporting real stories, shooting video, listening to the world, and sharing the news that everyone else needs to hear.
As I contemplate this, I wonder about the experience that my college career has provided me and my fellow reporters and classmates. I recognize that somehow, I have managed to stumble my way through a Bachelor’s and most of the way through a Master’s degree at a university that just happens to be one of the best media schools in the country. Those are my words, but the awards and certificates of this school really show it. But that is not the point I’m making here.
My point is that through the programs offered here at this university, I have gotten to achieve some things that most people don’t get the opportunity to, and some never will.
Nate helped reporter Lakyn Campbells shoot a story about Morgantown’s food truck scene for the third episode of this semester.
Opportunities like participating in events that you might not originally want to be a part of, or something that you wouldn’t understand if you had not pursued a story. For example, in our second show of the semester, where reporter Lakyn Campbell reported on the benefits of technical schools and colleges, if she had not pursued that story, she would not have known how to use a welder in a proper shop setting, or known that there is a growing representation of women in the trades in these schools as well.
Or another thing that happened for this show, where Ava Bartnicki reported on a protest of the recent attacks on Iran by the US and Israel; she would not have originally attended something like that or learned about why exactly these people would be standing outside in the rain and cold talking about why they don’t like a particular thing that is happening.
Or again, where I went with Lakyn again this show to check out a Puerto Rican food truck that I had never heard of before, right here in my own hometown. I would not have known or gotten to experience that if this show had not existed or worked in the manner that it does.
These are just some of the experiences I have had working for this show and others for WVU, not counting many others I’ve had in the past. But this is something I’ve noticed as I work with these student reporters before going out and doing it for real. What other unique experiences am I going to have as I leave here and move out into who-knows-where and doing who-knows-what? But I know that even as we enter the work for these last two shows of WVU News, I’m excited to see where it takes me.