As the second week of the fall semester wraps up, I am finally feeling caught up.

This week I had my first two stories published for the Columbia Missourian, and both stories made the front page! Let me tell you, I am ecstatic. For the fall 2019 semester I am in J4450W, the reporting class at MU, and I am really looking forward to a great semester in gaining hands-on experience reporting, working with the editors, and covering breaking stories. This semester, I am an education reporter for the paper. Follow along this blog to watch my journey at the Missourian unfold.

To start off, one thing I have learned so far is that being a reporter means you are “on the clock” all day everyday. You have to be available and open to picking up stories whenever you can, even if that includes weekends. My first story was co-produced by myself and Emily Roiger about Battle High School’s new move to disable guest Wi-Fi for personal devices during school hours. One student made a petition on Change.org. In the photo above, you can see this story in print. Click on this link to read the rest.

The second story I did this week detailed Columbia Public School District’s move to extend full-day preschool program to five days a week. The move followed a law to require Missouri public schools to hit 1,044 hours of classroom time per year. You can read this story via this link.

In the mix of all the reporting, adjusting to a new semester schedule, and more, I feel my excitement for journalism more than ever and look forward to this semester as a Columbia Missourian education reporter.