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PORTFOLIO 2017-18

ANNIE SOGAARD

SELF ANALYTICAL EVALUATION

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FTER completing the first semester of journalism, I learned so much about journalism as a whole. After the second semester, I realized that the class also taught me a lot about life- seemingly simple lessons, but still things that nobody had ever told me before or that I’d never experienced before. It may seem like I’m reading too much into it or over exaggerating, which is a completely valid assumption, given my performance. However, being a part of something like this was something completely new and still completely rewarding, despite how hard it was for me.

In terms of the class itself, being introduced to InDesign for the first time and being able to watch Olivia put her pages together so beautifully and easily was so interesting to me.

It never occurred to me what process goes on behind creating the pages and how excited I’d be to be able to do it next year. It was genuinely fun for me to design a lot of the last page of Features; I was learning about how and why things are done, and inadvertently gathered a lot more confidence about being an editor next year. Though it was just a small section that I did, I felt like what I was doing was important and I was so proud that I felt like I was “good” enough to do it.

The past year or two was insanely difficult for me, in all aspects.

Combined, my parents work 3 full time jobs with ridiculous hours and demands, all for my sisters and I, which I will never understand and always admire.

However, because they’re so busy, I was never properly taught how to balance all my responsibilities between school work and taking care of my house and sisters. I never learned how to ask for help or how to calm down and manage everything, which was and is insanely difficult for me to figure out by myself. Looking back, I know it would have been much easier for me if I had asked for help from the people who wanted to give it to me, like my teachers or even some of the editors.

The biggest thing I took away from the year is how important a good leader is. To be blunt, this class was been the most difficult and demanding thing I had ever been a part of. I enjoy writing, and I like to think I’m good at it. Being involved with something that entailed one strength along with literally all of my weaknesses was chaotic for me. I felt inadequate and small because of how often I failed. However, I can honestly say I am grateful to have stuck with it and excited to continue next year. All because I had insanely good role models to look up to. The editors were all so determined and so skilled with design. Even putting the editors aside, if the class was run by anybody else, I don’t even know if I would have joined it at all. Whether intentional or not, nobody else would have been so understanding of the fact that this is a learning process, and continue to give me opportunities considering how much I struggled with it. At the end of it all, I’m happy to say I can look at this upcoming year feeling more important, excited, and certain of what I am capable of doing.

The piece I’ve written and feel was the most significant this semester is without a doubt my article on Mental Illness and Mass Shooters for features in April. It was about the staggeringly frequent mass shootings in the U.S, and the reasons why that are under scrutiny; one of which, obviously, is mental illnesses. I am proud of it because it was so solidly researched and well balanced- I made sure to look at all sides of the argument, obtain facts and statistics to back up my point, and remain objective the entire time. It didn’t get published, however- we had to change a jump from the front page story into features and it ended up not fitting with the rest of the spread.

Of the published articles, I think my best work was my opinion piece on Shooting Drills in schools. It’s the same reasons, as well - it was well researched, and evenly balanced between my opinion and the other side. The reason these two are my favorite, along with my opioid article last semester, is because they’re controversial, “hardhitting” topics that I feel like I have something important and valid to say about. That’s probably why I enjoy writing for Opinion and Features so much.

REFLECTION #1

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