Now that I am officially done with my freshman year of college, I have a little time to sit back, relax and reflect on my experience. Throughout this year, I've worked through a many traditional college student stresses - homework, new friends, feeling like a small fish in a big pond, etc. - but I've also accomplished a lot. During the 2013-2014 school year, I've had my writing published on four different websites (Huntington News, Her Campus Northeastern, Artistry Magazine, and the NUScience blog) and in two hard copy magazines (Huntington News and NUScience).
Writing for so many different outlets has been great practice for me, since I published barely any writing in high school, and because I wasn't really familiar with the structure of a news story until now. Furthermore, writing for a variety of publications at Northeastern has helped me feel like journalism - specifically science writing - is a viable career path for me, as long as I keep sharpening my skills over the summer and continue to pursue new writing opportunities.
In addition to building my portfolio through extracurricular writing, I've also taken some great classes in both my areas of interest, which have helped me become more well versed in science and journalism. Among others, I've taken Physics, which is a field I'd previously only studied the basics of, and I've interviewed my professor about her research on the Higgs Boson; I've taken Interpreting the Day's News, which helped motivate me to actually start reading the news, as any good journalist - and human - should; and I've taken Journalism 1, which helped me build my writing skills and become more comfortable reporting.
After all the experiences I've had this year, I still can't say I'm ready for the rest of my life to begin. However, I feel more confident than I ever have about my education, my career, and my future.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
On Interviewing a Legit Science Writer
A couple of weeks ago, I got the chance to interview the woman that has my dream job: Angela Herring, the resident science writer at Northeastern. Not only do I find it so cool that my school has its own science writer, I loved talking to Angela about her life and her job. While the article I wrote, which was posted on the NUScience blog for Northeastern's science magazine, communicates everything I learned about Angela from the interview, I want to take some time to reflect on the experience and how it affected my own science writing aspirations.
Part of the confusion I feel looking towards a career in science writing, which I talked about in my previous post, is the difficulty of intersecting the journalism and biology majors. The journalism courses I have taken so far are so clearly catered to working at a print newspaper that it's hard to imagine having any other job. However, I am most passionate about science writing, and I wish there was a way to better integrating science with journalism in my studies (other than writing for the science blog, of course). For Angela Herring, who studied English and Chemistry while she was in college, this disparity must have been even more pronounced. However, through a combination of blogging, working in a lab, internships, and pure interest, Angela Herring landed what I can only describe as my perfect job: she spends her days interviewing scientists and writing for Northeastern's iNSolution research blog, as well as for various other publications at Northeastern and beyond.
As a college freshman, I already feel pretty certain in my desire to write about science as a career, even if I'm not sure how to get where I want to go. This is quite different from Angela Herring, who only started to seriously consider science writing several years after she graduated from Bennington College. I'm not quite sure what to make of that, since I have trouble feeling comfortable thinking I'll get a good job the future, or even assuming I can follow the career path I'm interested in.
However, talking to Angela Herring has made me feel a bit better about that uncertainty. Here's someone who's always possessed the skills of a science writer, but tried out several different different paths - including creative writing, chemistry, and working in a lab - before she found a career as a science journalist. She's a confident person and a talented writer who not long ago was a confused college student, just like me. Her advice for aspiring science writers ("ask lots of questions") as well as the story of what led her to this point will stick with me as I continue to make my way through college and work towards a successful and happy future.
I hope to continue to use Angela as a resource as I move forward in my journalism and science studies, and also to write something for the iNSolution blog sometime in the near future.
Part of the confusion I feel looking towards a career in science writing, which I talked about in my previous post, is the difficulty of intersecting the journalism and biology majors. The journalism courses I have taken so far are so clearly catered to working at a print newspaper that it's hard to imagine having any other job. However, I am most passionate about science writing, and I wish there was a way to better integrating science with journalism in my studies (other than writing for the science blog, of course). For Angela Herring, who studied English and Chemistry while she was in college, this disparity must have been even more pronounced. However, through a combination of blogging, working in a lab, internships, and pure interest, Angela Herring landed what I can only describe as my perfect job: she spends her days interviewing scientists and writing for Northeastern's iNSolution research blog, as well as for various other publications at Northeastern and beyond.
As a college freshman, I already feel pretty certain in my desire to write about science as a career, even if I'm not sure how to get where I want to go. This is quite different from Angela Herring, who only started to seriously consider science writing several years after she graduated from Bennington College. I'm not quite sure what to make of that, since I have trouble feeling comfortable thinking I'll get a good job the future, or even assuming I can follow the career path I'm interested in.
However, talking to Angela Herring has made me feel a bit better about that uncertainty. Here's someone who's always possessed the skills of a science writer, but tried out several different different paths - including creative writing, chemistry, and working in a lab - before she found a career as a science journalist. She's a confident person and a talented writer who not long ago was a confused college student, just like me. Her advice for aspiring science writers ("ask lots of questions") as well as the story of what led her to this point will stick with me as I continue to make my way through college and work towards a successful and happy future.
I hope to continue to use Angela as a resource as I move forward in my journalism and science studies, and also to write something for the iNSolution blog sometime in the near future.
Friday, January 17, 2014
The Perfect Plan?
Okay, so here's my plan: I'm going to double major in journalism and biology. On the surface, it makes total sense--I can strengthen my writing skills and still develop a strong science background, and I'll get to take classes in almost all of my areas of interest. I'll get two different degrees for the price of one and be twice as ready for whatever the world throws at me. Brilliant, right?
Maybe not so much. As much as I want to strike the perfect balance between journalism and science and eventually bring the two disciplines together, sometimes they feel like polar opposites. I might become totally prepared for a career as a journalist as well as for a career as a biologist, but I might not be prepared to combine the two into a science journalism career.
Furthermore, I feel pressed for time. It seems like recently college has become less about exploring your passions and more about building a foundation for the career you want to have--the job you can hopefully get. I can't just take random science classes and random writing classes; I have to take the right ones that will fulfill the right requirements of the right major. To put it more colorfully, I feel like I need to fit all of my courses and extracurriculars into a single cardboard box of four or five years, out of which my magically successful life and career will emerge.
I know this is old news: every college student feels this way. But I suddenly get the feeling that there's no real break between now and the rest of my life, and I'm not ready for the rest of my life to start just yet. However, I wouldn't want to go back in time. I just want to stay where I am for a while--allow myself time to make a few mistakes but ultimately still fill that box up with all the right things.
Maybe not so much. As much as I want to strike the perfect balance between journalism and science and eventually bring the two disciplines together, sometimes they feel like polar opposites. I might become totally prepared for a career as a journalist as well as for a career as a biologist, but I might not be prepared to combine the two into a science journalism career.
Furthermore, I feel pressed for time. It seems like recently college has become less about exploring your passions and more about building a foundation for the career you want to have--the job you can hopefully get. I can't just take random science classes and random writing classes; I have to take the right ones that will fulfill the right requirements of the right major. To put it more colorfully, I feel like I need to fit all of my courses and extracurriculars into a single cardboard box of four or five years, out of which my magically successful life and career will emerge.
I know this is old news: every college student feels this way. But I suddenly get the feeling that there's no real break between now and the rest of my life, and I'm not ready for the rest of my life to start just yet. However, I wouldn't want to go back in time. I just want to stay where I am for a while--allow myself time to make a few mistakes but ultimately still fill that box up with all the right things.
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