It was my first day interning at Boston magazine, an internship I had wanted since my junior year. I was talking to one of my site supervisors, the Editorial Assistant, when she asked the question I had become very familiar with.
“Does Emmanuel even have a Journalism major?”
And the answer is no, they don’t. They have three journalism courses; Intro to Journalism, Writing for Electronic Media, and Feature Writing. That’s it.
There are related courses you can take—Intro to Communications and PR Writing—but so many of the course offerings are theory heavy. At the end of my freshman year, I could tell you the ways in which hyper masculinity, the gaze, and homosocial bonds appear in any given text. But I still didn’t get what the inverted pyramid was or how to use it.
This doesn’t mean that getting an education in journalism is impossible at Emmanuel. If you’re happy with the three application courses and learning theory, more power to you. But, if you’re serious about learning how to be a reporter and getting into the field, it’s going to require some outside effort.
My freshman year, I joined The Hub. Fresh to the world of digital journalism, I was hooked from the moment I sat down at that rickety table in the pre-renovation St. Joe’s basement. After my first scoop, I knew I would never quit. In the four years I wrote for and edited the paper, I accumulated over 60 pieces.
Yup, 60. I covered everything from Student Government meetings to breaking news around the Fenway area; from club events to hot button tenure issues. My portfolio is now so much more than those three courses could have given me. It’s gotten me internships, job interviews, and (hopefully) a full time job.
It wasn’t always easy, balancing writing for The Hub and keeping up with my coursework, especially while I was taking one of those three journalism courses. This, I’ve found, is often what scared people away from writing for The Hub. They couldn’t commit the time or see themselves being able to.
And maybe my complete and utter undying devotion to the paper was a little intimidating. Thankfully not Paris Geller level, even though sometimes I felt I was coming close.
A mentor once told me that when she was interviewing recent college grads for her newspaper and they didn’t have their college paper on their resume, she was shocked. If your school has a paper, write for it. Even if it’s only every once and a while. If you’re at Emmanuel College and you want to study journalism, outside effort is required. Because trust me, you won’t learn everything in the classroom. You can’t.
In short, write for the paper. Get an internship. Get two. Try your hand at freelancing. If journalists are coming to speak at EC, go to those events. Facebook message that alum who has the job you would die for. Network until you don’t want to awkwardly speak to another human you barely know ever again.
Because yes, there are three journalism classes at Emmanuel. But that doesn’t mean that’s all you have to work with.
Abbi Matheson 