Sandra McGill: Achieving Success Despite Setbacks

By THE CLASS

Sandra McGill, 35, grew up all over the country, but primarily in Stockbridge, Georgia. As a child, her family moved around a lot. Although she and her twin sister, Sabrina, were born in Decatur, Georgia, they lived in Duncanville, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), Alexandria, Virginia (a suburb of Washington, D.C.), and Dublin, California (a suburb of San Francisco) from ages two to seven. She hated moving around and leaving her friends every few months or years. Just before the twins turned eight, their family returned to Georgia, eventually settling in northern Stockbridge about 20 miles south of Atlanta. Sandra watched it grow from a small suburb to a rather large city, as Henry County, in which the city resides, was one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation throughout most of her childhood. She still considers Stockbridge home (mostly because her parents still live there), but it experienced a downturn in economics after many urban residents of neighboring Clayton County flooded the city when Clayton County schools lost their accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2008. It’s much different from the town she grew up in, but she fondly remembers playing baseball, riding bikes, and playing other games on the street with other children in her neighborhood until high school, when too much homework got in the way.

She decided to attend the University of Georgia because it offered a unique master’s degree program in the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The Health and Medical Journalism program, a relatively new graduate program offered by the university starting in 2010, is one of a very small handful like it in the country.

Sandra, a second-year master’s student, has a 15-year background in the field of biology. When she was working in labs as a research technician, she realized that she much preferred editing her coworkers’ manuscripts to managing transgenic mouse colonies and running polymerase chain reactions. She came to the Grady master’s program because she would like to learn how to write and edit health science articles on a professional level. “My career goals are on track,” she said. She would like to work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a health communications officer or write and/or edit in the field of medical journalism.

She prefers to use a recorder while interviewing. Sandra writes somewhat slowly but very legibly, and finds that her writing becomes too “messy and disorganized” when attempting to write quickly. She also appreciates that using a recorder frees her from feeling pressure to transcribe every word, and allows her to fact-check for accuracy.

Sandra’s favorite written works to date were several pieces that she wrote during her time as a contributing freelance writer to Student Health 101, a digital health magazine based in Massachusetts with a readership of some three million students in the U.S. and Canada. Writing for a college audience often allowed her to infuse her somewhat goofy personality into her articles. These are some of her favorite pieces because she was able to be sarcastic, have fun, and play with words during the writing process.

Her favorite book, or series rather, is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Sandra loves these books because they grew with their audience in terms of tone and mature themes. In a sense, Rowling was able to appeal to an ageless audience, and the tone of her books matured in unison with her characters and audience.

Not surprisingly, J.K. Rowling is Sandra’s favorite author. In the Harry Potter books, Rowling’s writing style changes as the characters aged: the first book was written for an 11-year-old and her last for a young adult. The themes got more mature. As someone who has written her own children’s novel (unpublished), Sandra finds Rowling’s skill admirable. The author inputted subtle details in the early books and didn’t reveal their explanations until later ones, and it made the series influential for so many around the world.

The most meaningful advice Sandra has gotten she actually learned from her own experiences in adversity. Sandra was diagnosed with a neurological disease in 2008. It troubles her a lot and, while not degenerative, it is unfortunately not curable. Because of it, she had to give up pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Cell and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and return home to Atlanta, to learn to manage a new life with the support of her family close by. She has heard the adage “things happen for a reason,” but she doesn’t agree with it. What she firmly believes instead is that every storm cloud has a silver lining, meaning good things can come out of any bad situation. For her, the neurological disease is the bad thing. Although she doesn’t know what good things will happen, she has learned positive lessons from it. Now, when she meets someone in trouble, she doesn’t say “it’s going to be all right”; instead, she asks what she can do to help.

In five years, Sandra sees herself as either a health communicator for the CDC or writing health-based local journalism pieces. Sandra said she has yet to decide whether she wants to stay in Atlanta with her family or move away to find work. She initially came to UGA’s Grady College to become a health communicator for the CDC. However, last spring, she traveled to South Georgia with her class and wrote a story on the Easter Seals branch located in Albany. “I fell in love with the people,” Sandra said. This particular experience with her class and writing about the people in South Georgia opened up the option of writing as a journalist about local news.

When Sandra moves back to Atlanta after graduating from UGA, she will miss being in a small, easily drivable town. The sprawl of Atlanta is hard to navigate on a good day, and the traffic is a nightmare!

Shelby Jarrett, age 23, grew up in Madison County, Georgia. Shelby says the rural county has a very strong sense of community. She grew up on a farm raising livestock, and even though she was an only child, the entire community, not just her parents, took responsibility for raising her and the other children growing up there. She remembers it fondly and still travels home to visit her parents when she can.

Because she grew up in such a remote area, Jarrett spent a lot of time reading. Like many children of her generation, she developed an especial fondness for the work of J.K. Rowling. Having never quite outgrown the series, she was delighted to visit the Elephant Cafe in Edinburgh this summer, which is generally acknowledged as the birthplace of the Harry Potter series. The series made Shelby love words and writing, and even though it was fiction Rowling still managed to create a real world for so many people.

This is not to say that her taste in books has not grown over time. Of the books she has read lately, her favorite is entitled My Own Country. This memoir was written by the Indian-American physician Abraham Verghese who lived and worked in rural Tennessee during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. As a person of color who was working with a generally reviled portion of the population (namely, the LGBTQ) community, Verghese experienced firsthand both the stigmatization and moments of acceptance experienced by patients with HIV. Jarrett loved this book for its incredible story, the author’s writing style, and for what she learned about HIV/AIDS.

So too have developed her career goals over time. Jarrett began her graduate studies hoping to pursue a career in the publishing world after a series of related internships. After spending some time investigating health and medical journalism, Jarrett thought very seriously about switching concentrations. “It’s very, very interesting to read about obvious topics like cancer and obesity… but really everything [is] a health story,” she says. However, after considering the matter seriously, she decided it was best not to backtrack in her degree and is therefore continuing with her original instinct to pursue academic publishing. “A job where I got to read books all the time would be awesome!”

She is unsure about what specific area of publishing she would like to pursue, however, which also creates uncertainty in where she would like to be in 5 years. After living in the Athens area for most of her life, she hopes to be somewhere new.

Shelby’s six years at UGA have thus far been the result of practical decision-making. She originally chose UGA over other schools, like Washington and Lee, because the Zell Miller Scholarship made the cost of attendance so affordable. She wasn’t sure she would continue at UGA for graduate school but ultimately accepted an assistantship at the university. Despite choosing UGA over her dream schools, she says she doesn’t regret the decision. During her time at UGA, the worst course Shelby experienced was through a Women of Sub-Saharan Africa class. Though the class discussions were intensive and in depth, the professor graded unbelievebly harshly and gave no acknowldgement of the worthwhile class discussions.

No matter where she ends up after grad school, however, she will miss the sense of new beginning that comes with each semester, a quality of college life she will miss after leaving UGA.

Jarrett’s favorite piece of writing thus far is a piece that she wrote about nutrition in rural south Georgia schools. According to Jarrett, she values this piece because it allowed her to feel like a real journalist for the first time. “I got to leave Athens for a week to work on the story and was actually able to spend time interacting with kids about the food they were eating at school versus at home. It felt so much more like real journalism than most class projects at Grady,” she said.

Shelby’s grandmother once told her “this too shall pass”, which means no bad situation can last forever. Whenever she is facing a challenging situation or struggling with school, this phrase comforts her and makes her believe that she will get through it.

 

Xirui Dai, 22, grew up in Xiangyang, China. The history of Xianyang goes back to 1066 BC. When Qin Shi Huang established the first centralized empire in Chinese history in 221 BC, he chose Xianyang as the capital city, and then Xianyang became the center of politics, economy, and culture. After Qin dynasty collapsed, Liu Bang, the first emperor of Han dynasty, built a new capital called Chang’an near the old Xianyang in 202 BC. Since then, Xianyang became the imperial tombs of Han and Tang dynasty. The city houses over 20 emperors’ mausoleums, including Wu Zeting, the only female emperor in China’s history. Xirui learned this rich history from her parents, who took her to visit the city’s museums and emperors’ graves as a child.

JK Rolling is Xirui’s favorite author and she grew up reading the Harry Potter series. When she was 10, her father introduced her a book called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. she was captivated by the magical world created by Harry Potter and admires the fantastical creatures and creations that came along with it. As she has grown up, she realized that this book has a lot you can learn about life friends. While Xirui truly loves the entire Harry Potter series, her favorite book is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She is fond of the third book in the series because it was more emotional than the first two; Xirui was touched by the love and friendship between Sirius and Harry.

Studying abroad has always been one of Xirui’s dreams. In the junior year, she began to apply for graduate school in America, Hong Kong, and the UK. In the end, She chose the University of Georgia.

“It’s not my dream school and I never thought I’d be here.” Xirui said.

Originally, she applied to ten different schools, including Columbia, but was rejected from some. She only began considering UGA after stumbling upon an article listing Grady College as one of the top five journalism schools in the nation. After more research, she decided UGA’s low tuition and high rankings made it the best choice for her.

The academic environment of UGA is what Xirui appreciate and she especially enjoyed the Narrative Journalism class. “I’m not sure what I will miss about UGA when I leave but I will miss the time I spent here,” Xirui said.

When taking the Narrative Journalism course, Xirui wrote the story of the 38-year separation of her great-grandparents following the Chinese Civil War, also known as the War of Liberation or Guó-Gòng Nèizhàn. This is Xirui’s favorite and best-written work because, to her, it is not simply the story of her family, but of many families across the nation who experienced similar separations.

The worst class Xirui ever took was an Undergrad college course in China on international journalism. Though it was her major and she was excited to learn more, the professor insisted on using boring powerpoints and suggesting endless links to websites for more research information. Xirui remembers how illogically the course was constructed and that assessments contained questions that weren’t even relevant to his lectures.

While interviewing, Xirui prefers to use a recorder. She finds it more convenient, as it ensures that she won’t miss anything that was said. She also likes that using a recorder allows her to maintain eye contact and have a more natural conversation with her subject.

Xirui’s career goals have stayed consistent throughout her time at UGA. She has always been interested in journalism, but especially broadcast journalism. “I love the video and I love writing so I want to combine those two together… [perhaps as a] program producer.” She wants to make her own program, be it a talk show, a cooking show, or a news program.

However, lack of confidence may be a stumbling block on her career path .”I really want to do something but I always feel I can’t do it, and I am afraid others would laugh at me if I screw it. So I would rather choose not to do it. ” Xirui said.

“You are more beautiful than you think.” This phrase came from a short film produced in 2013 as part of the Dove’s marketing campaign.  When Xirui first watched the video, she almost cries. This phrase inspired her a lot. Whenever she feel self-doubt or feel hesitate about doing something, she told herself, “Don’t worry. You can do it. You are more beautiful than you think.”

In 5 years, Xirui sees herself living in a nice home with a husband and children. She plans to have a swimming pool and garden, as well as two pets: a cat and a dog. She hopes that she will have a successful career in broadcast journalism or as a producer.

“Also, I hope I can have a good figure,” Xirui said,”I’m trying to lose weight.”

 

 

Walls fights to follow dreams despite scholastic restraints

By THE CLASS

Sarah Walls, 21, grew up in Cleveland, Georgia. Sarah said what’s special about the northeastern town of Cleveland is that it is an oasis of rural escape from the hectic pace of Atlanta and Athens. As a rural-minded person (she definitely does not call herself a city dweller), she loves it.

Sarah was initially torn between attending UGA, the College of Charleston, and the University of Miami. After deciding Miami was too expensive, Sarah toured Charleston. She was blown away by the school’s beautiful setting and Spanish moss, but felt a distinct lack of connection to the University. Sarah felt like she instantly belonged at UGA on her final college tour.

Sarah Walls sees herself writing on a beach in five years. She wants to be writing fictional works, though she’s currently a journalism major.

“It’s kind of too late now,” Walls said, explaining why she didn’t switch her field of study at this time. However, she said she might see how the traveling aspect of journalism can influence how she develops her characters. If she did end up pursuing journalism, Wall said that it would be for the travel aspect.

Sarah started UGA with hopes of becoming a marine biologist. “I really like travelling. I really like writing. I really like the ocean,” Walls says. But her career goals quickly changed away from a scientific profession. She is currently trying to find a career to combine her three main interests. She thinks that travel writing might be a fun way to do so, but worries about the limited opportunities in the field. She has considered taking a year off after school to pursue her writing and explore perhaps becoming an author.

After leaving UGA in May 2017, Sarah will miss the ease of living and socializing with friends that college life brings.

J.K. Rowling is Sarah’s favorite author. She wants to be a writer and feels that Rowling has always been an incredible role model. Sarah thinks it’s amazing to see what Rowling has done with Harry Potter and how she has managed to make it a staple for so many people around the world to bond over.

Sarah’s favorite book is The Dive by Pipin Ferreras. This work is a true story about love, death, heartbreak, determination, and the incredibly dangerous, adrenaline-fueled sport of free-diving. Sarah enjoyed it because she is an avid scuba-diver and finds her true passion in the ocean, and the book was able to describe the ocean in a way she could relate to. She was intrigued by the adventure and danger, and, while she never wants to get into free-diving herself, would love to read more stories about ocean and diving endeavors.

Sarah’s favorite and best written work is a piece that she wrote for a creative writing course about scuba diving. She loved writing it because she was able to mix her two biggest passions, writing and scuba diving, to create something for others to enjoy.

The most meaningful advice Sarah has gotten is “keep trying no matter how many times you fail.” To be an author is Sarah’s career goal. Whenever she feels self-doubt or her work is criticized by someone, this phrase encouraged her a lot. She used J.K Rolling’s experiences as an example. Even J.K Rolling was rejected by twelve publishers, she kept trying and achieved success eventually. Sarah got this advice from her boyfriend who graduated two years ago and started his own business.

Sarah prefers to use a recorder while interviewing. She finds that both she and her subject are often slightly nervous at the start of an interview, and using a recorder allows for a more natural conversation, which puts both parties more at ease.

The worst class Sarah has ever taken was a Geology course taught by Professor Protino-Douce. She claims the professor was aptly named as he was very strict about cellphone usage in the classroom and made the course as awful as possible for the students. 

 

Schroder: Act Two

by THE CLASS

Maryann Schroder grew up in upstate New York, about an hour-and-a-half from New York City during the 1950s and ’60s when children had a lot of freedom to roam about.  As long as she headed home when hearing the family dinner bell, she could be gone all day without anyone being worried.  She considers it to have been an idyllic and safe environment for childhood exploration.

Perhaps that sense of freedom contributed to her resistance in high school to being contained in school all day.  It was pretty easy to just walk out the door, affording a situation she took advantage of regularly.  Unfortunately, that’s called truancy!  As a result, the best advice she ever got was something she deduced after being confronted by her high school principal at the time of graduation.  He reminded her that, in spite of good grades and having never gotten into any real trouble, her record of absence was not something to be proud of.  From this, Schroder came to realize that it’s not just what you accomplish that matters but how you go about it – your integrity and character.  This became a wake-up call and the most meaningful advice she ever got.

She has applied this advice to endeavors since then, including academic studies.  After receiving an undergraduate degree in psychology and a doctorate from Fordham University, Maryann has worked in the field of psychology.  She decided to return to school to begin a new area of study after moving to Georgia.  UGA seemed like “the best opportunity for a new adventure”.   Schroder took spring and summer courses, including one on rhetoric, with her sights set on journalism courses through Grady College.  She is now at Grady as a part-time, nontraditional student, not pursuing a degree “in a traditional sense of preparing for a career.”  Maryann said about her work in psychology, “It is something that I enjoy, but I would like to explore writing.”  “It is a time of new beginning,” she added.

When asked where she saw herself in 5 years, Schroder paused before saying, “I think that question has a different weight at different times in life.”  She acknowledged being a senior citizen now and not sure what that would feel like in 5 years.  However, she was certain about the general direction.  “I see myself as contributing to a broader understanding of the world around us.”

Although she has not done work as a journalist, Maryann’s favorite writing project so far was about her encounter with a homeless man in Athens.  According to Schroder, the story is her favorite because it allowed her to take a personal journey through which she had to confront her own reactions to the realities of homelessness and to this individual. “It wasn’t published. I wrote it for myself, but I loved writing it because I learned something about the world and my community,” she said.

Maryann imagines that she would prefer to use a recorder over a notebook while interviewing.  She thought that carrying a notebook, for her, might become more of a prop than a true tool.  She also thought that it could be a barrier, as people may find it intimidating to see their words being transcribed.  There is less distraction with a recorder, she said, though she would still carry a notebook to record her own thoughts, impressions, and questions during the conversation.

Schroder enjoys reading fiction, satirical essays, and journalistic nonfiction.  One of her favorite books in recent times was The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.  She described it as an inspiring work of historical fiction about an Irish girl who immigrated to America and, upon becoming an orphan, is raised by slaves on a plantation. Maryann loved this book because it is an inspiring and powerful story about the meaning of family and identity, exploring issues of free will and determinism at the same time.  When asked about her favorite author or journalist, she said that two came to mind, first citing David Sedaris.  Schroder explained that Sedaris writes humorous essays about his life in a way that reflects on absurdities of life.  She enjoys looking at those kinds of things, particularly contrasts that are in our everyday lives. The second author she cited was Malcom Gladwell, a journalist who offers unique perspectives on different aspects of life, often centering on social phenomenon.

Maryann Schroder is not yet envisioning a departure from UGA since she has just gotten started!  However, she expects that, when that time comes, she’ll miss interacting with the bright and vibrant students of UGA.

 

 

A study of duality, Samantha Piper

By: The Class
Samantha Piper, 21, grew up in Marietta, Georgia. With its kitschy shops and abysmal traffic, Samantha calls Marietta a typical Atlanta suburb. She said it was quite varied, however, with areas of the city ranging from containing slums to Stepford Wives. With the location giving residents access to quality schools and downtown Atlanta, Piper said that Marietta also allowed for individuality and privacy too, and she was able to experience both rich and poor cultures. Her favorite place was a specific park that she watched grow over the years.

Piper originally wanted to go out-of-state for college but realized she couldn’t afford it. She ultimately chose UGA because  she knew she wanted to focus her studies around writing and thought Georgia offered the best writing programs.

Piper’s favorite and best-written work is a piece that she wrote for a Women’s Studies course about transgender groups and the media. This is her favorite work to date because it allowed her to immerse herself in a new community. “I am a big fan of research, so I loved learning how to use the right language and be inclusive,” Piper said. “It really helped me understand how to properly use sensitive language and it was very intersectional.”

Hunter S. Thompson, who was a journalist in the 70s and 80s for Rolling Stone is one of Piper’s favorite journalist. Thompson created Gonzo Journalism, where he inserted himself into the article and where the creative of the story matters over facts. It’s very bizarre.

Piper’s favorite book is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This enthralling tale is about a woman who, after enduring a troubled childhood, meets a man who sweeps her off her feet. But, he is not what he may seem. This psychological thriller takes place in the Jane Austen era, teaches lessons of independence and putting ones self first. It contains incredible word choice and flow, which is why Samantha loves it so much.

The most meaningful advice Piper has gotten is “something is better nothing”. Piper self-identifies as a perfectionist, but this phrase taught her to at least try and get something done even you think it is not good or perfect. She got this advice from a very close friend last year.

Piper is a fourth year but speculates that she will most likely be adding another semester onto her time at UGA. When she first came to the university, she wanted to pursue music journalism. “I really thought that was my big calling”, she says. But as she got further into the music side of journalism, she realized that she didn’t care for the heavy deadlines and concrete writing, saying she preferred more creative freedom than her major allowed. “The more I got into it, the more I realized I wanted to do… probably radio or magazine.” Piper believes that her career now is more headed “into [an] abstract space of creative production using communications hopefully in radio”.

Samantha savors dualities she finds at UGA and the Athens community as well as those between Athens and its surrounds.   These include emphases on sports as well as academics at the school, pockets of downtown culture versus rural countryside, and relative liberalism of Athens within a traditionally conservative state.  Piper will miss the richness of these dualities after leaving UGA in December of 2017.

Piper uses both a recorder and a notebook while interviewing. Her radio experience has made her appreciate how using a recorder causes you to examine your speech patterns and otherwise phrase things more coherently, and also appreciates the accuracy ensured by their use. However, she maintains that “you remember details better when you’re writing them down,” and thus likes to write down key phrases, spellings, and physical reactions that a recorder does not capture.

“I’d like to be out of Athens,” said Piper when visualizing where she would be in 5 years. She hopes to have graduated and moved on, joking that otherwise, she would be stuck in Athens forever. “I would hopefully see myself moving to Chicago.” Piper said that she has always wanted to live in the north where it’s colder. She mentioned that in addition to the cool weather, moving to Chicago would allow her to be closer to her family. As for her job, Piper is stuck between wanting to work for a magazine or radio station. At this current time, she writes pieces that can work for both career paths until that decision needs to be made.

Take the answer you got from Hailey to the question you were assigned during the second class meeting. Write a sentence with that answer that follows coherently from what your classmates (and I) have added.

Question 1: Where did you grow up, and what’s special about it? (I, Sandra, never saw Hailey in class, so I did not get to ask her this question.)

Nathan Hutto, 23, was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Ate the age of six, his family moved ito Dacula, Georgia. Nathan’s forebears and extended family founded and live in Hutto, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin, which ironically is the small town to which his classmate, Sandra McGill, evacuated when Hurricane Ike struck southern Texas in September 2008. He felt isolated by Dacula’s rural surroundings. His friends from school would hang out together in the evenings and on the weekends, but neither he nor his brother were able to do so because they lived on the opposite side of town, about a 30-minute drive away. This isolation created a close bond between his brother and him, as they often only had each other as playmates.

Nathan applied to multiple prestigious colleges, including Wakeforest, Washington & Lee, and Princeton, in addition to UGA. He was waited-listed for Princeton but opted not to remain in limbo waiting on a final acceptance. He toured Washington & Lee, finding the Roanoke campus beautiful but overall too isolated. He was ultimately swayed by the University of Georgia’s cheaper in-state tuition thanks to the Zell Miller scholarship and the surrounding town of Athens.

His favorite and best written work to date is a letter that he wrote to his parents. He is proud of it because he was able to succinctly communicate his position and because he was able to defend it well.

Tom Stoddart is Nathan’s favorite journalist. Stoddart is a photojournalist who almost exclusively shoots in black and white, and Nathan feels the moments he has captured in his 38 year career are some of the most moving images in modern journalism.

Nathan’s favorite book is On Writing by Stephen King. While this is not one of King’s typical horror novels, Nathan believes it is one of the most profound pieces he’s ever read. He thoroughly enjoyed King’s incredible insight on what it means to be a writer and what it truly takes if one wants to excel in his or her craft.

In five years, Nathan would like to have completely paid off his student loans and be working a fulfilling job that gives back to his community.

Nathan reflects on college years as offering a “window of opportunity” to develop as a student and emerging professional.  He will miss the flow of announcements to his email inbox about internships and jobs but looks forward to self-starting some new endeavors after leaving UGA.

A fifth year student, Nathan started his college journey with the hopes of becoming an EMT. However, after taking chemistry which he describes as being a “miserable experience”, he switched majors to journalism because he says “I’ve always been a decent writer” and that his mother was a magazine journalism major. He would like to see where the skills that he has learned at Grady take him, and find his niche later on.

Nathan prefers to use a recorder while interviewing. A recorder preserves his source’s exact words, which helps him avoid even accidental misrepresentation while writing.

While he doesn’t remember the source, he believes the best advice he’s ever heard is “When things suck, love more.” If everyone retreats into themselves and becomes defensive, no one can open up to healing or improvement.

The worst course Nathan has ever taken while at UGA was his Chemistry 1101 class. Though it was an intro Chemistry class, the professor proved extremely unhelpful time and time again, basically refusing to answer Nathan’s questions even when asked directly.

Lisa Fu, 20, grew up in Alpharetta, Georgia. She is currently a junior at the University of Georgia majoring in journalism and economics.

Because Alpharetta is so close to the University of Georgia, Lisa said that a lot of her classmates are or have been Bulldawgs. She also said that the city’s high growth rate during her childhood meant that the increasing number of occupants drove Alpharetta to experience more cultural diversity and an appreciation for the arts. Alpharetta’s main attractions included a stellar education system, upper middle-class lifestyle, lots of books on hand, and cultural richness. Despite being a second-generation American, Lisa said her Asian-American parents were not the stereotypical “tiger parents” who control their children’s activities and push them to excel. Nonetheless, Lisa made wise decisions with her life and has found her own success by pushing herself internally. “You drive yourself” to succeed, Lisa said.

In the fourth grade, Lisa encountered the worst class she’s ever experienced. The teacher, Mrs. Waller was a “micromanager who couldn’t organize”, assigning intensive monthly book reports only to loose a good portion of them due to an ineffective filing system.

Attending Alpharetta High School, where going to University of Georgia was the norm, made Lisa initially hesitant to attend the in-state college. Lisa originally didn’t want to attend UGA. She knew she couldn’t afford to go out of state and needed to take advantage of the HOPE scholarship. She ultimately decided on the University of Georgia because of the Grady College of Journalism’s reputation. Still, she was reluctant.

“I was originally like, I guess I’ll go there [to UGA]. But it really grew on me during my freshman year.” Lisa started to appreciate how down to earth everyone was and how much individual attention her professors paid to her. She feels as though she has been offered opportunities at UGA that she never would’ve experienced elsewhere.

“I actually didn’t have too many career goals when I came here,” Lisa says. She knew that UGA had a good journalism program and knew that she enjoyed writing, so she applied to Grady. “I wanted to make a difference in someone’s life and I thought that the best way to do that was through being a journalist.” Since, she has taken up an economics degree and has discovered that she thoroughly enjoys writing about numbers and that she more enjoys solely economics. Fu is now considering working for a central bank or being an analyst. Fu believes that she has opened more doors for herself since she began at UGA. “I never thought that I would do [it] but I’m actually thinking about doing [corporate] analysis,” she says.

With just 2 years left, Lisa said she will miss its lively social atmosphere, ease in making connections, and the support of professors.  She expects to graduate in May 2018.

Lisa’s favorite and best written work is an article that she wrote about a homeless woman in Athens and her constant struggle to remain afloat against seemingly uncontrollable circumstances. This is her favorite piece because it allowed her to connect with her community and make a real difference in the life of someone else. These stories are the real reason Lisa decided to pursue journalism.

After a bit of experience writing with the Red&Black, Lisa learned that she prefers using a recorder while interviewing. She feels that in addition to maintaining accuracy and allowing her to avoid paraphrasing, using a recorder allows her to capture nuances of people’s voices that she could not capture using a notebook.

Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer, is Lisa’s favorite author. He is a minority and he talks a lot about being a minority in his own land. He talks about tough issues like poverty, parenting and alcoholism. He makes them comical so that when you’re reading you want to laugh and cry. He talks a lot about irony, in one of his books the main character plays basketball for a team called “The Indians,” and he is Indian so it was written with a lot of irony.

Lisa’s favorite book is actually a literary collection of poems by Sarah Kay. Titled No Matter the Wreckage, this collection is a beautiful series of inspirational poems about life and love. Lisa loves this work because of the author’s voice; her childlike curiosity about the world touched and inspired Lisa on an emotional level.

The most meaningful advice Lisa has gotten is “pursue your passions, don’t worry about the end goal. ” She got this from her father when she was 16. Her father encouraged her to try hard to do what she really love and don’t worry about whether the job can make money or not. “Most people are lazy, so if you work hard, you will get something. ” Her father said.

 

 

Rachel Cohen, 21, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina with her parents and her older brother, Michael. Her favorite thing about her hometown does not have to do with the actual city of Raleigh, but rather that she was the first generation of her family to be raised in the South. Upon moving to North Carolina in 2001, shortly after finishing 1st grade, she integrated into the southern way of life through public schooling, girl scouts and being surrounded by many children who had lived there for their entire lives. Her parents, both of which were raised in Pittsburgh, PA, were northern parents raising southern children.

“It was a great childhood, we all learned things together. Now my family definitely considers ourselves southern.”

Reading and writing has always been a big part of Rachel’s life, even in here childhood. From reading her first memorable novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, to collecting every magazine she could get her hands on throughout high school, it is no surprise that she finds herself a senior Journalism major in The Grady College.

Rachel was drawn to the University of Georgia for both its social and academic atmosphere. She immediately fell in love with downtown Athens, the lively social scene and the Grady College of Journalism. After Rachel witnessed a close family friend’s positive experience ahead of her at UGA, she knew the University was the right choice for her. Before leaving for Freshman year, Rachel received the most valuable advice she had ever gotten. Her old brother advised her have an open mind while meeting people and to give everyone a fair shot. Whether they be in your classes, dorm or even sorority, “the people that you meet over the next four years will be some of your best friends and they will teach you so much, if you let them.”

Rachel has found herself reflecting on the infamous Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as she started her writing career. She loved this book because, as the first in the series, it portrayed a child-like innocence and introduced the characters that the world fell in love with. The Harry Potter series was a staple in Rachel’s childhood because it served as something her family bonded over. It was the first novel that impacted Rachel’s passion for reading and writing.

Although writing was always an interest, Rachel started out as an advertising major at UGA. She enjoyed the introductory classes, but when she learned that Grady offered a concentration in magazine journalism, she quickly changed paths.

“I’ve always been fascinated by magazines… I have stacks and stacks of all my old magazines at my house.”

After beginning the magazine journalism, she thought she would write feature stories in magazines, but after taking magazine management, she believed that this might be the best track for her. She feels like she will have multiple careers over the course of her professional life. She would love to still work with magazines, but she will be happy applying the skills she has learned in Grady to any career she does.

Blogging has been a large part of Rachel’s writing experience, and her favorite piece of writing is her blog from her year abroad living in Israel. The blog allowed her to think critically about the events happening in the country that she was living in, and now she can look back and remember her exact thoughts from that time in her life. Rachel has generally preferred to use a notebook while interviewing and writing stories, although she has not written anything that required an extensive interview. She likes to be able to jot down her own notes on what the person is saying, e.g. “great ending” or “ask more about this.”

Throughout Rachel’s academic career at UGA, she asserts that the worst course she encountered was an English Advanced Composition Writing, a class she expected to thoroughly enjoy with her predilections towards writing. Despite a competent and kind professor, the class lacked structure and planning, leaving Rachel feeling stressed and at a loss of how to correctly complete the assignments.

Now that Rachel is a fourth year, she has thought about her future and what she will miss most about living in Athens and being a student at UGA. Rachel said that there will be so much to miss about UGA after she graduates in May. A sense of freedom in being a student and the camaraderie of friends were primary among those while internship experiences have provided a bridge to explore next steps and the work culture.

Her five year plan is still unclear, but she knows she wants to be working in a job she enjoys going to everyday. She emphasized the importance of enjoying one’s job, but didn’t specify a particular field. Rather, her focus was on being able to use the skills she learned in school to grow as a person. During this past summer, she worked for a company that made her realize the importance of having a passion for the organization that one works for.

“I didn’t care about the work personally, and that made going into the office everyday a little bit harder.”
When she worked for a company that she cared about last semester, she felt excited to go to work, a feeling she hopes to have in the future.