We made it, the final fall 2021 issue of the Oswegonian. Honestly, when I agreed to be the opinion section editor last April, after beating out the zero other applicants, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Seven months later, I could not have made a better decision. Not only from a “looks good on a resume” standpoint, but from a development as a person and a writer, and reinvigoration of why I am in college, joining the Oswegonian was the defining decision for this semester and every day I am glad I did.
Journalism is a tough profession, as are all forms of writing. Without a good grindstone, your craft becomes dulled and just plain bad. I know after the long summer and not writing anything from May to September, I was dull. My first two news articles this semester will never see my portfolio, and only barely appeared in the newspaper. With an honest lack of journalism classes at Oswego, if you are a journalism student and you are not writing at least once a month for the news section, I hate to say it but you are doing it wrong. It may not seem like it, it may not feel like it, but you are losing precious practice in a forgiving environment.
Oswego simply does not have enough journalism classes to get away with no Oswegonian involvement. For pure print or web journalism, there is intro to newswriting, advanced newswriting and reporting, investigative journalism and finally, digital and social journalism. Granted, it would be smart to spread them out over your junior and senior years, but I did not plan like that, nor is that realistic to actual print journalism jobs. As a senior, I often find myself on LinkedIn, JournalismJobs.com or Handshake looking for jobs post-graduation or just for fun. Just about every description says how many stories each reporter is expected to write a week, and it usually averages around four. Classes do not prepare you for that. The most I ever had to write in one semester was eight stories over 14 weeks of classes. The rate of writing is simply not enough to prepare future journalists for the fast pace of a legitimate publication.
Yes, this might be my most biased opinion article yet, but that is the beauty of the opinion section and each section of the newspaper. You have room to explore. I do not actively watch sports, but I wrote a sports article for the Nov. 12 issue and might have another one in for this issue, the Nov. 19. Rarely can you find a class so diverse and with such ability to grow and communicate with the editors.
Outside of professional development, everyone should get involved in a major club or professional organization. Besides being future LinkedIn connections and people to take a picture with at graduation, these people become your friends. Time in the office gets a lot easier when I am gossipping with the “Abigails”, throwing paper airplanes at Spencer or talking about my favorite professor with Annika. Even teasing Will about other clubs, discussing the weekend with Jack or minorly bullying Ladd and Diamond became the highlights of my week, even under some stressful times trying, or more so watching because the opinion section is pretty easy, to get the paper out by Thursday night’s deadline.
To journalists, join the paper. Not only do we need writers, but there will be plenty of staff positions opening soon. Build your resume, add to your portfolio, and come make some new friends. There is a world of possibilities out there, and you are severely limiting yourself by only doing class assignments.
Photo from John Custodio
