Yesterday, the High Country News interns (Ariana Brocious, Cally Carswell and I) trekked to nearby Delta to speak to a journalism class at the local high school. After getting lost in the “big city” (Delta has about 6,500 residents to Paonia’s 1,500) we were greeted by five bright and eager young journalists. Well, sort of.
The students (whose final projects entailed writing articles about High Country News and journalism) displayed varying degrees of interest, from mildly curious to distinctly bored. We were interviewed press-conference style about our backgrounds, interests and how we came to be at High Country News:
“Why did you go into journalism?”
“What’s your favorite kind of thing to write about?”
“What’s the most exciting thing you’ve ever done in your life?”
“What’s the hardest story you’ve ever written?”
“What’s the biggest risk you would take for a story?”
“If you fell into a pit of radioactive slime, what superhero power would you want once you got out?”
“How has your social life changed coming from big cities like Chicago, Tucson and Seattle to Paonia?”
After the end of the first hour, I felt slightly drained. The questions had brought back a panoply of emotions associated with why I got into journalism in the first place — my curiosity, my ambition, my fear of butting into people’s lives. Some of the questions reminded us of difficult stories or experiences we’ve had related to the field — Cally remembered spending hours with a lonely man who in the end wouldn’t grant her an interview, I remembered the only time I’d cried writing a story. Other questions, like the last two listed above, elicited mostly laughs.
By the end, the kids had mostly perked up and were sharing their own stories. One girl said she had a hard time exploring investigative pieces in their small town. Others had already written for their local county paper, with mixed results.
I slightly envied them. Entering into journalism these days (or even thinking about it) can be a scary thing. But it’s also quite possibly one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done.
Check out the class’s newspaper Web site, All Around D-Town.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
