Inkwell Reflection

On Tuesday, I was assigned my third and final piece for The Inkwell. My article is to write a story about Armstrong's NAACP wining The Best College Unit Award. The story will be in next week's paper. I will also write a blog about the experience as well.

Today, however, I decided to reflect on my experience with the paper. I started writing for the newspaper second semester of my freshman year. I remember attending one of the bootcamps and told Luke Farmer, the former news editor that I was interested in writing for him. My first article sucked, but I improved as the semester went on. Reporting for the paper allowed me to get to know Armstrong as a campus and community.

The following year, I was news editor. I applied and interviewd for the position during the summer, but a guy named Brad beat me out. I told him not to get to comfortable, because I will take his position. And that is what happened. He said the job was too much for him, so the Kristen called me and asked me to take his place. I was hestiant at first, but knew it was a good opportunity.

The position of news editor was a challenging one, but very beneficial. I was able to help my writers with their articles and become a better writer myself. I also leared about layout and how to put an entire section together. There would be times when I would cry to mom about how tough the job was, but she told me to just push through it. So I did, and it was worth it. It was worth seeing a fesh paper out in the newspaper stands every week as a reflection of all your hard work.

During my time as news editor, I attended a journalism conference in Austin, Texas. That was pretty neat. I had a chance to see other college newspapers and take ideas home with me. I also attended classes and met other college students from all over.

The next year, I spent a semester in D.C. participating in a political journalism program. I took classes at Georgetown University and interned with Campaigns and Eelections Magazine. During my internship, I wrote for their blogs and helped with various projects around the office. I also was able to tour different Washington landmarks like the White House. It was a wonderful experience and would not mind going back.

After the internship, I came back to Armstrong and took a break from writing for the paper. I had the opportunity to intern with the Grant Director Susan Arshack and learn about grant writing.


This semester, I am taking News Writing and Reporting. Part of our grade is to write three articles for the paper. I have written two so far and I am working on the thirs one right now, which will appear in next week's paper.

When I was assigned my first story, I was hestiant at first because the last time I wrote an article for the paper was my sophomore year. I was worried that I would forget a lot of the rules, but I didn't. The opportunity to write for the paper again was nice. It was nice seeing my published work in a publication. It is also nice having some recent samples in my portfolio since I am graduating in May and I am currently looking for a job. I wish I wrote more. but working and attending classes fulltime, the articles was all I could comitt to. Maybe next semester.

Anyway, overall writing for the paper has been a rewarding experience. I never expected that I would have come this far and I am excited to see what happens next.