Job shadowing Blue Mountain Eagle staff has been definitely an eye-opening experience in terms of learning about what it takes to be a journalist. I know for a fact when I first thought of journalism I pictured nothing but writing, or a romanticized version of what a journalist’s job is, that was further from the truth. Through my job shadows, I was able to see how much a reporter, editor or anyone else that works for a newspaper has to do. Reporters like Rylan Boggs and Angel Carpenter have to research, photograph and write their topics before the public ever sets eyes on the story. To be a reporter, something that is my main career goal, is to be constantly working with people and meeting deadlines. Which can be hard since there has never been a schedule for new news.

Besides my job shadows with the staff of Blue Mountain Eagle, I also was able to do research into what to expect and how I should prepare myself to reach my intended goal. The main consensus I got through my research is that journalism is an ever-changing career because of how our media is evolving. Instead of getting our news from the local paper, which we still do, we also get the news from the internet, radio, television and other forms of multimedia. Because of this, job opportunities for reporters, or just journalists in general, tend to fluctuate continuously, making becoming a journalist not as easy as one would think. The best way to become a journalist is through internships or having experience with a high school newspaper and having at least a bachelor’s degree focusing on journalism or some degree of training.

Through my research, I found that the key skills for a journalist to have are obviously good writing, speaking and, surprisingly, good people skills. Which will be areas that will need improvement if I am going to pursue this career path. Besides that, I gained cool tricks to actually help when interviewing people besides taking concise notes. Always to remember to take off the cap covering the camera lens, and to record the people talking instead of writing it down and just record the minutes so there are no words forgotten in the interview. I was able to see how many steps it takes to actually get the newspaper ready and become what you are reading before you. Although, my idea of a journalist wasn’t as cookie cutter as I originally thought, it is still the career that I wish to pursue.

Shiranne Carter is a senior at Grant Union Junior-Senior High School who performed a job shadow at the Blue Mountain Eagle.