Now That I’m Home

Now that I’m home I have never felt more grateful for an experience in my entire life. I was so hesitant to go to the conference but I decided to take a leap of faith and go for it and I’ve never been more happy with a decision.

At WJMC you’re going to have the LONGEST days, you will wake up at 4 or 5 a.m. after going to sleep at 1 a.m. the night before, and listen to a ton of speakers and participate in a ton of activities, but I can tell you right now, it is so worth it. Even if you are exhausted you will learn so much from every speaker and feel so engaged that it won’t even matter how tired you are. You will spend so much time with all these great people that you’ll completely forget how tired you are. Everything about this conference is so worth it. You meet absolutely wonderful people and started your networking early on.

I’m so thankful for this conference and it really solidified my want to go into broadcast journalism.

Everyone who had something to do with my experience, thank you.

Day Six

Day six was by far the most emotional day at WJMC.

It all started with our final and most emotional color group meeting. The red group’s faculty advisor, Brian, (who was hands down the best faculty advisor) handed out our certificates and asked us to talk about what we loved about WJMC and our time there and it was so sad. We all learned a lot about journalism but I think we all took away more from the people we met there. My group was so welcoming and loving and I have never met people who are more accepting and smart. My group exceeded my expectations and I couldn’t have asked for better people to share my week with. I know I have lifelong friends from that group. #webleedred

The closing ceremony was incredible. Instead of describing it, I’m just going to include the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asY3B_SZtjM

When people started to leave it was so heartbreaking. You make all these connections to people and basically live with them for a week and then you leave knowing you’re all across the country. I feel so blessed to have met the people I did. The Washington Journalism and Media Conference really introduced me to some of the best people and some of my best friends.

Day Five

It was our last full day at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference. It was also our earliest day at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference. I woke up at 4 a.m. that day to be ready to go see Brian Lamb at 7:30.

Now if you’ve ever seen Brian Lamb, I’m sure you’d agree that he’s a pretty intimidating guy. He’s got so much experience in the industry and seen and done so much that you feel like nothing compared to him. He really made an effort to get involved with us though. He engaged us in questions about our life and involvement with journalism. A frequent question he asked was, “Why do you want to go into journalism?” and I feel like that’s an important question we all have to ask ourselves everyday because if we don’t know the answer then what are we doing? Something that really resonated with me was that he said, “Don’t be eager to talk, be eager to listen”. As a journalist you will be talking and asking questions often but it is more important to listen and get all of the facts.

After Brian Lamb, we went to the Capitol Building for group photos.

We then got to tour the Smithsonians of our choice and be like typical tourists.

After our day of touring we got to go to the gala to celebrate all we’d accomplished over the last few days. It was really just a fun way to spend time with your friends and be happy about the past week and have a good time. We took a lot of pictures.

Day Four

Day four was a very busy day. We had multiple color group meetings in between speakers to prepare for our journalism simulation later that night. Our speakers that day included David Culver, Carol Guzy, Amy Takayama-Perez, Kevin McCarthy, and Beth Jannery.

David Culver showed us his short film on his recent trip back to Cuba with his family. It was a beautiful film and he got to document it because of his love for journalism.

Carol Guzy was probably the most moving speaker I’ve ever heard. She’s taken so many emotional photos and been in so many rough situations to document what’s going on in the world and you can hear the heartbreak in her voice. As if her speech wasn’t enough to make you emotional, she had a slideshow of her photos. One thing she said was, “eyes, minds, and hearts make the most compelling images”. Her photos included events like 9/11 and the animals of Hurricane Katrina just to name a few. With all of the heartbreak she’s endured she mentioned many times that you have to cherish the ‘wow’ moments within all of the heartbreak.

After that we had our simulation. I was the producer for KMOV 4 News. Honestly the simulation was so fun, getting to sit at a press conference and ask questions and then form a story. It was really a look into what our futures could be like and I was so content with it.

Then Amy Takayama-Perez, the Dean of Admissions at GMU, talked to us about college admissions and she really opened my eyes. Colleges don’t sit and ask people to apply just to reject you. She also talked about how to pick a college and really know what school is for you by things like class size, campus size, and location. It’s really good to hear from such a friendly person that accepts people to a college for a living that it isn’t so bad.

Kevin McCarthy skyped us all the way from Spain after our indoor barbecue. He stressed to us the importance of internships and asking a lot of questions and being persistent but not annoying. He told us even if we think the answer to our question will be no, to ask it anyway. A girl even went up and asked him to prom (he said yes). He told us that if we love something enough, the money will follow. I think it is really important to love something before you look at the money aspect of it.

After Kevin McCarthy we got to go to Career Exploration Sessions where I chose to go to Beth Jannery, the director of the journalism program at GMU’s, session. In the session we talked a lot about ethics in journalism and ‘What’s the Story?’. She really focused on how you have to be a strong writer and reporter and how your reports have to be original.

Day four was extremely long but definitely very enlightening.

Day Three

Our first day actually wearing professional clothes! (Aside from Sunday night, but still) This felt like the first real day in the ‘professional world’ to me.

We got to go to National Geographic which was absolutely incredible. Susan Goldberg had a wonderful presentation put together and really connected with the audience. Her main points throughout her speech were the principles of story telling, which were:
1. Make a difference
2. Do what others can’t
3. Be part of the conversation
4. Act urgently
5. Know who you are
My favorite was the fifth point, knowing who you are and being confident in that will set you apart as a journalist and she really highlighted that. She also showed us the covers of the magazine for the next year and that was such a reality check, they plan the covers and stories so far in advanced and I never would’ve even imagined it took that much planning but it really opened my eyes.

After that we went to the National Press Club and the history and people who have been in that building is insane. It was so weird but amazing to feel like you’re somewhat apart of that. While we were there we had the Politics Panel, which was my favorite, which included Jen Bendery of the Huffington Post, Jonathan Karl of ABC News, and Richard Wolf of USA Today. The passion they have for their jobs is inspiring. I love the idea of getting to work on the Hill or even the White House. Something they said that really stuck with me is accuracy is more important than speed; it doesn’t matter if your story is the first one published if there’s incorrect information in it that you’ll just have to retract later.

Sonya Ross from The Associated Press also spoke to us while we were there and she is hilarious. She was so personable and really made journalism feel like an achievable goal. When you tell most people you want to go into journalism they say it’s a dying art or that it’s too risky but Sonya Ross’s story and how she got into it made it feel more like a reality than a dream. “Do it because you’re passionate about journalism”

(Some of us with Jen Bendery)

Day Two

Monday was probably one of my favorite days. If you’ve never been to the Newseum, I highly recommend it. I’d been before but going this time and looking around in the mindset of a journalist just changed it all for me. All of their exhibits are so incredible. The exhibit about all fallen journalists is amazing, for people to have a love for their job so much is so inspiring. The 9/11 memorial is heartbreaking with all of the front page stories and the video. My personal favorite however was the Pulitizer Prize winning photos. The fact that someone can take a picture and it can tell an entire story right then and there and move a person is unbelievable.

After the Newseum we went to see Jamie Smith, the Executive VP of Media Strategies, Edelman, and Michael D. Shear, White House Correspondent for the New York Times. They really focused on the relationship between the journalist and the person in communications and how as journalists we have to write stories within our own personal interests. They said at one point, “don’t work on things you don’t care about”. If you don’t have an interest in what you’re writing then your readers won’t be interested either.

After that we went to the World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and the FDR Memorial. I’ll include some pictures to better explain this.

Day One

Getting ready to go to the conference was honestly the most intimidating thing I’ve ever encountered. You’re about to be thrown in with 200 other people who all are aspiring to be in the same field as you. In the long run, I guess that isn’t a lot, but to me it seems like A LOT of people.

Once my plane landed and I’d gotten my luggage I was walking over to the meeting place and I saw a swarm of kids in the blue WJMC shirts. That was the scariest thing, knowing you just had to walk over and make small talk with a ton of people you don’t know. But I did it and I found some people who I know will be lifelong friends.

After I tackled that the next thing was checking in and meeting my roommates. Luckily I had the best roommates I ever could’ve asked for. (This whole experience makes me feel a lot more prepared for college)

Then all of us national youth correspondents did some more hanging out with all the people we didn’t know and made some more awkward small talk. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world. I’ve never met people who I could have conversation so comfortably right of the bat with.

Our speaker that night was Nicole Livas from WAVY News. She talked about the changing of the industry and how technology is becoming such a huge part along with social media in the news. My favorite thing that she said was that as journalists we are “giving a voice to the voiceless”.

Then after the speaker we met with our color groups and to say the least #webleedred

After Some Reflection – I’m Back

I’ve been home from the Washington Journalism and Media Conference for a few days now. I can honestly say it was the best experience of my entire life and now I’m here to detail my experience day by day. Although I’m not entirely sure it’ll be accurate considering the brain remembers things incorrectly when running on a lack of sleep.

Each day at the conference was incredible and so inspirational. With that being said, let’s just jump right in.

I’m New to the Whole Blogging Thing

If there’s some formal way as to how one is supposed to blog forgive me because there is no way I’m going to go by that. So hi, I’m Lexie. To start off with the basics, I’m 17 and about to be a senior in high school, I’ve danced for almost 16 years now, and I have a passion for filmmaking/journalism/anything news or camera related. For basically my entire life (well, really the 7th grade) I’ve known I wanted to go into broadcast journalism. I am so fascinated by the idea of being apart of history and then getting to share that with the world. Journalists get to tell a story based upon facts that the world is open (well…somewhat open) to hearing. I love that. The invitation to the Washington and Journalism Media Conference is probably the most exciting thing I have ever received in the mail (granted I don’t get a lot of mail because who does nowadays, but still). It all feels so crazy though, flying to DC, making connections, and really dipping a toe into the world of journalism so early and so fast. It’s crazy exciting but also really nerve-wracking. All of this real world stuff makes me feel like I’m not just some 14 year old anymore.

So to sum it all up for you
I’m Lexie and I have never blogged before so this is probably a mess but that’s okay because here we are growing up and trying new things. So enjoy 🙂