Reflective essay:

​

   When I was first introduced to journalism I had never put much thought into how newspapers get their quotes from people. I had never considered the amount of work goes into finding people to talk to and cover in a story. My teacher taught me the true importance of a good interview and how to seek out people that are not often covered or heard.

   The first thing I always look at before I’m about to interview students, is a binder that we keep in our yearbook room we call the “hit list”. The hit list is a binder with everyone's name and grade that is in the high school. Its how the staffers and editors and I are able to keep track of who has been covered and who hasn't. We try our best to give every student a voice and coverage. If we are thinking of interviewing a student but we see he or she has been covered twice we try and find other people to cover instead. Most of the time it requires more searching than just checking the hit list but it's a good starting point.

   My next step in searching for people is often pulling their schedules through the office. The yearbook staff is allowed to see what classes other students have and what lunch they have so we know when they are available to talk.

   Another step I often take is to use social media to my advantage. Students post so much about their life on their social media. When a student posts something cool they are doing I try to encourage for whoever has that spread it falls under to cover it or get it covered myself. I like to use social media because sometimes you can find really cool student life things that aren't being covered because no one is talking about it. For instance a girl who makes political t-shirts to express her views publicly, a boy who started making his clothing line based off of his own photographs of his hunting dog and a girl who collects second hand bibles to donate to women's shelters. I would have never known about any of these events if I didn't use social media.

   When I make a list of all the people I need to interview I try and establish a good time to meet them and talk. My adviser always taught me to make the person comfortable before an interview. For some students this means meeting them after school one on one and talking a while before and interview. I've even went to a student's house because that's where they were most comfortable to meet and talk. I have learned that most students are more open when you just set your phone to voice record after their permission and just start having a conversation before asking questions it kind of warms them up to you especially when you've never spoken to them before. I've been told the notepad and pen can be intimidating.

   If you really search for cool stories by asking around or using social media you will find them. If you focus on making the person your interviewing comfortable you can get more honest and raw interviews from people.