Journalism students brain storm ideas for the Pilgrim Perspective. Photo by: Mrs. Gifford

Journalism is an elective course taken by few but appreciated by many. The Pilgrim Perspective, issued every month, draws much attention from the student body. Students enjoy searching the pages for their interviewed friends and reading the many intriguing articles written by fellow students. Journalism provides enrolled students with the opportunity to get the word out about what they care about, express themselves, and strengthen their writing skills. Faces come and go through the class and provide the paper with fresh diversity. New students this second trimester will show to be no exception.

“I wanted to improve my writing skills and I thought the newspaper would help,” shared sophomore Patricia Ortiz about her reason for joining the course. Writing is something that journalism students experience on an everyday basis. “It’s laid back and you work at your own pace when [in] the other classes you work fast,” adds Frederick. The process of producing an article is somewhat lengthy, but needs to be done quickly, and requires a lot of writing. Writing down possible article ideas is the first step. Once selecting one of interest, one must then write a minimum of ten interesting questions to give to an interviewee. Ten questions may not seem like a lot, but they must be questions of a more complex nature that will appeal to an interviewee and draw them to write more than a “yes” or “no” answer. An efficient article can not come from these kinds of single word answers. After receiving back the questions, handed out to the faculty, the article can now began to be written. However, a lot of original work from the writer must be added to the article. A writer will receive answered questions back from at most five people per article. Usually the questions are answered in one to two sentences, giving the writer ten to twenty sentences in a 500-100 word article. “I hope to become a better writer while writing my articles,” shares senior Chelsey Allen. Writers have a large task on their hands. However, they are intelligent and contain imaginations and hard working mind sets that will help them through their lengthy journey to becoming a stronger writer.

Along with their writing abilities, are the new students colorful and varying personalities. “I am known for being a nice person,” shares Smith. She states that she “like[s] many things.” Smith is an athlete on the volleyball and tennis teams and she is also a member of the speech team. She also plays the piano and enjoys drawing; and if she had room in her schedule for one more class she would either take Theatre Arts II or Beginning Broadcasting. Her main goal for this class it to “..become a good reporter,” she also stated that she wants “..to write good and interesting articles for the paper.”

Another new edition to the journalism family is Ortiz. Although she does not plan to continue her studies as a writer, instead as a chef, she still “hope[s] to become a better writer.” She admits that when she first signed up for the course she was “..so scared that [she] wouldn’t know anybody but in the end there were a lot of friendly people.” Journalism students put a lot of time in together. Her consistence of being “a good listener..and attempting to give advice,” is a positive addition to the class. Ortiz’s creative side continues as she would enjoy taking interior design if she had the room in her schedule.

Also, new to the course, Frederick is known for being a good listener. However, she contains a slightly more animated personality. She shares how she likes to “hang out with friends, read book[s], and play poker!” She would like to have a study hall in her schedule to get all of her homework done faster; and plans to go to college to become a nurse. Her reasoning for joining the class is “because she heard it was fun.”

The last, but not at the least, addition is Allen. She also has heard the course was fun from previously enrolled friends and is eager to strengthen her writing abilities. Although she is not positive on what career she hopes to have after high school, she is sure that she is going to college. Unlike the other new students she does have room in her schedule for an elective course, however she chooses to leave school. Her reasoning being “Why be in school longer than you need to?” During this free time she enjoys “..playing video games, outside activities, going to movies, and hanging out with friends.” She does however enjoy the time she is and school and her favorite thing about journalism so far is writing the questions to give to the interviewees.

Although the personalities of the students this trimester differ from one another, they all work together to produce the most intriguing articles possible. Through writer blocks and loss of words, the writers for the Pilgrim Perspective put their best foot forward with each and every article.