The question I always seem to get is why do you want to be a journalist?
Friends, family members and even strangers never grow tired of asking the same question.
I want to be able to tell people about the world. I want to teach people about their communities and what they don’t know is happening around them. The only way people know what is happening in their community is by reading, watching or listening to the news. I want to be the person who teaches them the current events.
I am a 19-year-old sophomore at San Diego State University studying to major in journalism and minor in television, film and new media.
I was involved in the newspaper at Dysart High School in Arizona and absolutely loved it. I still remember sitting around the classroom’s round table with all the other members of the newspaper’s staff and pitching my story ideas.
For example, I wrote a story about public displays of affection. The story described the consequences of displaying affection at school.
My friends, although they disagreed with the idea of PDA being something that would take them to detention, praised me about the article and let me know it was informative, since they did not know about the penalties of displaying PDA. The appreciative comments I received after the student body read my public display of affection article made me like writing in that newspaper more.
The Star-News has given me the opportunity to intern and experience what goes on behind the scenes of a community newspaper. I intend to learn from this opportunity and understand a little more about this newspaper. Hopefully this will bring me closer to eventually reaching my dream of becoming a journalist.
Mendoza is a Star-News news assistant.
