Every year, the journalism and A/V production programs go on a field trip to the University of Tennessee to explore all of the different media classes offered and learn about potential future careers. Journalism student Lucy Malone (11) and A/V student Gabe Hampton (10) both attended the field trip this year.
There were a variety of classes and activities to partake in during the field trip, but everyone had their favorites. Malone really enjoyed being able to see everything together and how much was offered, while Hampton favored the tour of the brand new media room built at UT.
“I really liked to be able to see short snippets of classes and dip your hand in everything that there is in the journalism classes at UT because they have so much to offer and it allows us to see all the different points of view and all the different careers that people find themselves at UT,” Malone said.
“Definitely going on the media tour, it was cool to see all the equipment,” Hampton said.
Going to a college campus and seeing all the classes offered can greatly influence what a student decides to pursue in college or as a career. Malone and Hampton both were inspired to pursue media because of this field trip.
“Whenever members of the reporting teams at UT would tell us about how passionate they are, how what they do at UT has affected them, and how they help others in reporting their stories. Just how passionate they are about being on the scene and writing and taking photos and traveling. Some of them traveled so far to write about what they did and have affected the lives of so many people and it makes me a lot more passionate about what we can do because I can see how beneficial their effects have been,” Malone said.
“I’d like to pursue media, I wanna be able to write and have people see it in things like newspapers,” Hampton said.
Not only did they learn whether or not they would want to pursue media, but they learned valuable information that will help them with their careers and classes.
“I learned about different ways to do graphic design and different styles that you can incorporate on yearbook pages and how to incorporate your color palettes on yearbook pages and what color palettes create certain emotions or feelings within your book,” Malone said.
“It can cost a lot of money, especially for equipment,” Hampton said.
College visits are important to high school students, as it gives them insight on potential career paths and college. Malone and Hampton had many important experiences from college activities.
“I don’t know where I’d be without being able to talk to people from UT and people from yearbook staff outside of the school about what to do with the book and how we should conduct our classes and how we should organize everything. It’s really helpful to learn if this career would be best fit for you or if there’s something adjacent to this career that would be best for you because in communications there’s so many different types of careers that you might not even know about,” Malone said.
“[College visits] are important because you get to set your examples up. You can see all the advanced equipment they have,” Hampton said.
Having advice to follow can be a strong foundation towards success in a future career and school. Malone and Hampton both have some advice to share for their future selves.
“Don’t think too hard on it, don’t put too much pressure on yourself because you can find so many different pathways that you might like in college that maybe aren’t in journalism and maybe they are, and to just try out each and everything in college that you might be interested in to see what would actually be best for you,” Malone said.
“Stay focused and stay motivated,” Hampton said.
The UT field trip influences and impacts students significantly each year, providing opportunities, knowledge, and motivation for anyone interested in pursuing media.
