I think this might be the first time for me to ever write a column that’s a direct follow-up from a previous one.
Or, at least it’s my first time doing something back-to-back like this.
Usually, my column follow-ups are weeks apart and give our readers too much lull time in between.
Well, I can’t contain my excitement and have to share this new accomplishment with you all.
I mean, I’m counting it as an accomplishment purely because it was something out of my comfort zone and fairly unique.
After some careful consideration, input from trusted friends and a little bit of personal introspection, I found myself manning a table at Bay City High School’s career fair last Friday.
Now, I chose to do this myself despite having a little bit of anxiety that was purely based on feeling a bit rusty for undertaking such a task.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve manned booths for market days in years past – but this was a bit different.
On one hand, it was also vaguely reminiscent of my time spent in college trying to recruit for the campus Student Government Association.
On the other hand, connecting what my job is with this newspaper to what the high school offers current and incoming students is a whole different ballgame.
There are several factors that make my journalism job and experience more unique than just getting a degree or running with the hottest sludge the local rumor mill can dredge up.
I mean, I’m fortunate not only to work from home with my parents, but that each of us has a niche set of skills that make the entire paper run as smoothly as possible.
My mom is the best business office manager and publisher that I’ve worked for and Mike’s 50-plus years of reporting, layout, photography and other journalism expertise are something I’ve been proud to learn from.
And now, at over 12 years doing this, I also understand that it works not only because of our teamwork, but also of our county.
I could recognize the uncertainty in those teenage faces and tried my best to explain that while this newspaper was unique in its functionality and coverage area – I still had a journalistic background from other companies, college and my own freelance experience.
My official job title may be “News Editor” but I do everything from writing and editing to social media management, marketing and sales as needed.
I explained that I had always had a passion for writing and found that despite some topic snot interesting me personally, my job allowed me the chance to share stories that may be of interest to our readers regardless.
I did make a minor lament of learning things against my will from attending so many functions, but I did tell them it made for great trivia knowledge if they were in to that sort of thing.
For the majority of the career fair, I handed out candy and copies of the newspaper to the students and parents who seemed interested and was surprised to receive so many positive remarks about my Gengar Pokémon tattoo.
All in all, I felt fairly accomplished when I got home – proud of myself for making effort to engage families about what journalism could offer students for their future.
I wasn’t looking to outright inspire students, but I wanted them to know that journalism wasn’t dead and that the district did have options for getting their feet wet in that career field – what they do with that information is up to them and their parents.
