Brittany Ford: A Dream Deferred

“Who is she?” I ask my mom at the age of nine. My mom replied, "That’s Nicole Boone, the news anchor." My mind began to ponder and I replied “I want to be just like her when I grow up”.  From that point on, I began practicing speaking in the mirror. I made my sibling watch as my audience. I am still interested in that career field today. However, my educational experiences in broadcast journalism has left a sour taste in my mouth. I am heavily starting to reconsider my career choice.

When pursuing my career choice of being a news reporter, my expectations were completely off from the reality. I thought I would attend college, receive guidance on how to do what Nicole Boone did, and then after the degree, the job will come immediately. 

Oh, how I was wrong. At age 22 and a soon to be graduate student, I am far from achieving my goals to become a news reporter. Most jobs want you to have experience outside of academics, which is something I don’t have. Lander University has provided me with great opportunities, including studying abroad; however, I am not prepared for a career in broadcast journalism.

So after, being frustrated with Lander for several semesters, I decided to study abroad in hopes that it would help build my resume, and I would learn how to be a news reporter in a foreign country. When I first started taking the news class in England, I was very impressed with how things looked and how classes were being conducted. They had a state of the art studio that was more up-to-date than Lander’s. The set-up of the studio looked like a real news station. I learned many things related to news and how to work the various equipment. However, when I left Winchester, I still couldn’t tell you what a news reporter does based off my experiences. I researched this career in middle school. I know what they do. I just wouldn’t know how to do it properly because no one has taught me. I am a kinesthetic learner. I need to do hands on things in order to learn.

At Winchester, the news class was entitled Studio Skills. The first day of class I was in shock. The professor told the class that we have two projects and a paper due at the end of the semester. 

Then, he said we need to choose roles for each project. He then proceeded to go into the typical first day speech of rules and the syllabus. After his speech, he gets up and leaves us to start on our projects. No instructions were given. As a well accomplished student, I was looking lost the first day, because I am used to knowing what is required of me as a student. The other students jumped right in and began working on the project. One girl asked me what role I wanted for the first project. I was still confused, because I didn’t know what each role entailed. I also have never heard of the roles she was describing. So the next time the class met, I expressed my concerns to my fellow students and teacher. He assigned a student to help me throughout the process. 

So, basically he pawned me off to someone else. I remember him specifically saying Shannon show Brittany around and help her in the studio. Shannon was a great person but I didn’t learn anything from her. 

When I would ask her to teach me how to do something, she would be nonchalant about it. One time, I asked her to show me how to work the teleprompter. She ignored me and I asked again. Then she went on to say just press the power button knowing I needed more instructions than that. When she was not around, I asked other classmates for help, and they didn’t know how to work the equipment either. There was one guy who knew the studio very well. However, he was always occupied with other things that he never paid attention to my need for help. 

On the final day of class, we had to do our final news show live on air. My role was the sound engineer. I was displeased with this role, but it was all that was left since all the good roles went to the other classmates. While the anchor was speaking, a noise was heard over the anchor’s voice.

 I began panicking because the sound was coming from the sound board which I was in charge of. I tried to stop the noise by lowering the volume controls, but nothing happened. The producer came over and pressed some buttons and then it stopped. In that moment I felt incompetent. I felt I wasn’t cut out for this and that I should just give up. I blamed myself for the error and put the weight of the project’s grade on my shoulder. We got a B average on the project, but I still felt guilt after receiving the grade. I always think that if that sound didn’t interrupt the show we would have had an A. 

 

After all my mishaps in this field of broadcast journalism, not only at Winchester but Lander as well, I am beginning to wonder if this is the right career choice for me. And the answer is I don’t know. I’m the type of person who has to experience firsthand in order to know if it fits me. I’ve learned from my mistakes at Winchester and my process there has taught me to stand up for myself and take initiative to learn things that other won’t teach.

 My experience has resulted in a possible career change for me, but I am still holding on to my dream. Every time I think about that day I asked my mom “Who is she?" I know I can be that lady someday.

Brittany Ford is a senior Mass Communications major. At Lander, she is a member of the Honors college, Alpha Chi Honor Society, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Brittany plans to graduate May of 2017. Her future plans are to become a news reporter. Brittany studied media at the University of Winchester in England in 2016.