Currents in Education
Aspiring journalists reflect on their experience
of job shadowing the staff of their community newspaper, the three aspiring journalists reflected individually on their experiences.
Dave Cannata
I decided to job shadow at The Independent because I enjoy writing and I was interested in what it's like to be a journalist. I think that the Career Quest program is an excellent way for students to experience the everyday activities of a job that they're interested in. I had a great time visiting job shadow sites to interviewing other students and their supervisors, and then writing an article with Lindsay and Nick.
Lindsay Putnam
I chose to job shadow at The Independent because I really enjoy writing on the York High School newspaper and I've become interested in possibly pursuing journalism as a potential career. We spent the first day driving around to the different job sites and seeing what it's like to interview different people and get the information necessary to write a news article, which we ended up doing on our second day.
It was cool to work with other people and write a large article that is going to be read by many others. I enjoyed my job shadow experience, but I also feel that the (new program) preparations leading up to it weren't well planned out. I hope that the school will make some changes to the program - since this was the first year they did it with the whole junior class - that will make the experience even better for next year's participants.
Nicholas Trent
My decision to job shadow The Independent came from many sources, but mostly from my love of writing and the fact I am not stuck behind a desk, day-in, day-out. Instead, I am able to go out, interview people face to face, make connections and interpret the facts to make a story for the people of York and whoever else buys The Independent to read and find out what is going on in their town or area, that week. It also allows me to participate in the history of the newspaper, and to some extent, the town's history, by writing about various stories and articles.
The experiences I gained from the job shadow were that this job is one I am interested in and may even pursue in the future, and that the "real world" is not as scary, impossible or demanding as some people, or even society, show it to be. Journeying to the various sites, Dave, Lindsey and I went to - Coastal Ridge Elementary, Elias Law Office, Ceres Street Bakery, Desjardins Dental and Food & Co. - was a very interesting experience, as I got to go see how my classmates were taking the job shadow program and what they thought about the jobs. The input from the supervisors was also very useful and enlightening to see what the parents and voters, who could possibly decide to remove or expand the program, were thinking.
After doing this program for two days, I personally believe that it is an interesting program, and it should be continued, but that it needs to be organized in a much more efficient fashion, so students aren't rushed in deciding what they want, and being hounded to finish up a resume, when they have to worry about all the other concerns from school and extracurricular activities.
All in all, it was a very good experience and I recommend it to any others who have even the slightest interest in this program, be it a single student or the entire state.
