Ever since I can remember, I wondered about the world around me. I wanted to know everything, and I mean everything. I wanted to find out what made people get up in the morning and what they thought about when they went to sleep at night.
When I was growing up, social media was on the rise and all this new information was at my fingertips.
It was an irresistible way to get as much information as I needed and it let me develop my own opinions and theories about the world.
I also have a knack for finding out what is true and what is false. I have habitually wanted to research information given to me to determine if it was accurate and if the sources were reliable.
In journalism, this is very important because you don’t want to be spreading false information to the public. I believe writing for the public record is important.
I believe the same thing about the records of my personal life and to that end I keep a diary of my thoughts and feelings, especially noting if something important happens to me. It’s almost like keeping receipts of your life, I can always look back at what I have experienced or felt.
I am always online, all the time, reading about current events and keeping up with the news. I want to be a journalist because this role impacts people’s lives for the better and I want to make a difference in the world.
Getting into journalism school is one of my big dreams, but travelling the world and writing about my travels is the real dream, and only hard work and determination can get me where I eventually want to be.
Practice makes perfect, am I right? Journalism has always been appealing to me because of the risk factor. Stepping out of your comfort zone is inevitable if you are to be a good journalist; being scared isn’t an option. I like to think of myself as a creative, adventurous type and journalism calls to me.
I have an extremely open mind and meeting new people and hearing their personal opinions and theories is what makes me tick.
Of course, I have little to no experience so this opportunity to have an internship to write for the Cochrane Eagle is beyond exciting, and I am thrilled to be writing two more pieces after this so please watch for those.
Emma Konkin is a student at the Cochrane Community Learning Centre and is interning as part of her studies.
