Our Future's So Bright We Have To Wear Shades

If you look at the Annenberg alumni and the success that they have had, how can you not be excited for the future? We have so many incredible experiences in the Media Center and if you look at what we are capable of producing it's apparent that we will be prepared when the time comes to graduate. 

My backstory of how I got into journalism is actually quite interesting. I did not grow up dreaming of becoming a journalist. I did not watch nightly news. I did not turn the volume down and pretend to do sports play-by-play. Rather, I watched Sportscenter every morning in my dad's lap before he took me to school which we spent the entire car ride discussing and debating what we had just seen. The only thing that I did that somewhat resembled journalism at an early age is that I would sit in my room and practice saying "I'm Caroline Deisley" - the reason for this I still am not sure of today. However, I grew up and someone convinced me to join the yearbook staff in high school. Here I began to cultivate my writing and digital journalism skills while also learning what it is like to be a leader and the decisions that one must make as a leader of a publication. As I began the college search, I had no idea what I wanted to study. I thought that I was going to play sports in college. In fact, at an early age I told everyone that I was going to be the first female Major League Baseball player when I grew up. After watching a school video project that I had to do my sophomore year, my dad looked at me and plainly said, "You know, I've always imagined you or your mom on TV. The two of you just have the personality and presence to work in the on-air broadcast industry." And that was that. We didn't discuss it further and I didn't consider becoming a journalist. However, it stuck with me and I followed this passion to USC where I came in like most freshmen wanting to become on-air talent. While this is still a dream of mine, Annenberg has opened my eyes to the million different possibilities of where I could go with my career. 

I still have not given up my dream of becoming a sports anchor; however, I discovered that I have a passion for not only telling people's stories but also a passion for how you tell the story, who covers the story and what elements you include to make the storytelling that much better. Producing allows me to have the ability to make these decisions and really think through how we tell this story. I also (not going to lie) love the "power trip" that you get from producing. I am in charge of making the decision of what the reporter is going to cover that day, what the anchor will read and how the audience will see it and I absolutely love that feeling. 

I spoke with the Gannett recruiters when they were here a few weeks ago and I told them a shorter version of this blog post about how I am still deciding whether I want to be a producer or on-air talent. They told me that if I love producing then that's where I should go because there are so many job opportunities but at the same time, in order to be a producer you have to absolutely love producing. So, here I am at the end of my junior year and I still have no idea, but, that's the most amazing thing about Annenberg. I don't have to decide right now. Senior year I will continue pursuing a career in producing as one of the Executive Producers of ATVN but I will also be developing my reporting skills and on-air presence as a reporter and anchor. I absolutely cannot wait to see where this life takes me but one thing I know for sure is that I will be successful no matter where I end up because Annenberg has prepared me in ways I never could have imagined.