Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Special


This week, Bruce asked me to write a reflection on my time here for the paper. This is what I submitted to him.


My name is Chris Tataryn, and I’m new to this.

I am a student, just about to finish my work practicum and graduate from Media Production at ACC. As you may have guessed, I’m doing my practicum here at the Westman Journal, and this week I have been tasked with writing about my experience so far.

I started my practicum here in May, and it will be over before July. In just this short time, I have totally rekindled the desire I had for news media when I enrolled at ACC. I was worried that next year I was going to have to go get a ‘real’ education in something safe like business or accounting, but after having just a taste of how exciting a media career can be, I am sure this is for me.

This may be an unpaid practicum, but all the perks I have received more than make up for that. Perks like free-access to the Memorial Cup, much to the jealousy of some of my classmates.

When the cup was in town, I was floored to learn that Bruce Penton, the editor here at the Journal, had put my name down for a media pass at the Memorial Cup. That meant that I now had free access to anything going on in the Keystone Centre for that entire event. Free access to games, to players, even to Lord Stanley’s Cup (which, thanks to this practicum, I had the opportunity to touch without waiting in line for hours). Just the ability to walk around and learn or watch anything I wanted was an incredible feeling.

The Memorial Cup was an awesome experience for me, and it hasn’t slowed down since it ended.

Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to go check out the Summer Fair a day early and even got myself on some free rides. If you thought the Fireball was scary before, try doing it while clutching a camera worth more than all your possessions combined. Definitely more exciting than anything I could have expected when I started my time at the journal.

Experiencing actually being a part of the mainstream media has been awesome. I live to learn, and being in an industry that focuses around learning and uncovering new information is a dream come true. The best part so far? All these cool things I’ve done at the Westman Journal are just the start, I have no idea what I could be doing in five years, and thanks to my time here, that is the most exciting thing I could imagine.

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