My majors!
Since coming home I have changed my mind several times. However, I have chosen a journalism major and I have yet to change my mind since last year. I struggled to find my way to this point and my journey was anything but easy.
In second grade, I was diagnosed with a learning disorder, a form of dyslexia is what the doctors said. I process information slower than others and it becomes mashed up in my head. For example, with standardized tests I will read my options, A, B, C and D. When I process my options, my brain says C, A, D and B. As you can see and probably have already assumed, testing was never and will never be my strong suit. It is so unfortunate for people like me to take tests such as the SAT, ACT, ERB, CAHSEE, etc and be graded as that result.
That's one part of the story. The second, and perhaps most difficult aspect I had to struggle with was my writing style and technique. All my life I have been told that I had great ideas and thoughts but that I was very unorganized in my writing. I slowly began to give up my love for storytelling because I had made meaning out of being a bad organizer. I made it mean that I couldn't be fixed or changed and so there is no point in trying. Plus the endless hours of staying up late in middle school with my mom correcting essays didn't help. No one ever encouraged me to learn to write properly until Dr. Richard Follett, my English professor.
I took his English 28 course which re-teaches students the basics of a proper writing format. I remember my first assignment. I had finished typing up my final draft and my first thought was to email it to my mom to look over and edit. For the first time in my life I stood up against my scared self and didn't do it. I turned it right into Dr. Follett. The next week I received an A on the assignment. In fact, the lowest grade I received in his class was an A-.
The momentum didn't stop there. The following semester I enrolled in a Journalism 100 and a Journalism 101 course to fulfill the requirements for my undergraduate units for communications major. Those classes opened up a whole new world to me. It was better than Jasmine's carpet ride. I was able to write and rewrite stories, grasp history in a media perspective and even was published, twice. My professors saw something in me that Dr. Follett saw in me the semester before. I was being seen as more than a student. They saw me as a writer. I went on to finish the semester earning a first place award for one of my published articles. I was honored, and I still am.
By the end of February 2009 (only one month into that semester) I was a journalism major.
Fast forward to August 2009.
I had one more week left of my summer break when I received an email from the Editor-in-Chief to be at my school's newspaper. He had contacted to me to ask if I wanted to be the future Feature's Editor. I was hesitant and nervous. My palms had already begin to sweat, my stomach was in knots and my head was pounding. What if I failed? What if my pages were blank by the time we go to print? What if I can't find a good story? Will I be any good? Despite it all, I said yes.
The semester flew by and I did it. At our end of the semester banquet I received two first place awards, two second place awards and an honorable mention for my writing and page designs.
So what's next? I ran for Editor-in-Chief for the spring semester and lost. I was up against a reporter and the current EIC. The reporter won. I was saddened and hurt. I felt as though I had worked hard and that my efforts went unnoticed. It turns out that my outside life was too busy and the panel thought I was better suited to be Managing Editor.
Not bad, eh? So you are reading the current Managing Editor's blog! I am excited. We have a great team in tow and it's going to be an interesting and exciting adventure.
And just so you all know-- my life doesn't revolve around the newsroom, although that sounds amazing! I nanny part time, I am in a committed full-time relationship and always make room my friends and family.
Good night!
To see my published work, check out my online portfolio or my newspaper's website.
The Roundup (Don't forget to type my name in the search engine, Sydney Grossman.)
My Portfolio
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