I have always felt the most comfortable behind the camera. It wasn’t until college that I even had experience with print journalism. We were required to take a basic journalism class in tenth grade, but it wasn’t nearly as rigorous or realistic as the classes I’ve taken in Merrill. I had my first real taste of print journalism this past summer when I interned for a recycling magazine in Washington, D.C. Though I really enjoyed my time there, I still think I appreciate the work I can do with a camera more than work I do with a pen.

I have been in media programs since sixth grade. In eighth grade, we were required to take a trip to New York where we had to interview a person of our choice and then make a full length documentary about the person and their profession. I followed that experience in middle school with a four-year program in high school that allowed me to get involved with production and editing.

For two years, I produced my own television show for Montgomery County cable. One was character based, but I was able to use my journalism skills by making it educational and interesting. My second show was more journalistic because it was a talk show about issued relevant to the teen community. It would address a new topic each episode and would feature several guests. All of the interviews made for a true piece of journalism because they provided emotion and subjectivity.

Though I feel more comfortable with a camera, I do not feel comfortable speaking. I have terrible stage fright and have never been the talent in front of the camera. I hope to become more comfortable through this class by practicing speaking and working on staying calm when I am the talent. I also hope to gain more creativity by learning how to set up quality shots and deciding what kind of video would best suit the script coinciding with it.