If student journalism had only taught me only one thing, it would have been to question everything.
I’m not talking about concocting a spin on a story based on my own biases. I mean approaching an issue with an open, responsibly curious frame of mind.
The truth is, though, student journalism has taught me hundreds of things.
I’ve learned how long I should pause while interviewing a source between questions to usher him or her to continue talking, memorized countless (sometimes tedious) rules set by the Associated Press, approached complete strangers and convinced them to open up to me about delicate issues, rationalized conflicting ethical decisions between myself and my audience, and I even learned how to spell the word “baccalaureate” correctly. I’m still shaky on that last one, I’ll admit, even after five dutiful semesters on the Dixie Sun News staff.
Within the copious amount of big and small lessons I’ve learned through covering both uninteresting and enlightening campus events, compelling individuals and complex issues related to Dixie State University, no lesson means more to me than knowing the necessity of curiosity. This lesson doesn’t just apply to journalism, either.
To play off one of the worst idioms in history: Curiosity doesn’t kill all cats; it just kills the ineffective ones.
DSU’s new identity boasts of a community that’s made of individuals who set the precedent for change. Trailblazers aren’t afraid of change. They fiercely and unapologetically do what’s right regardless of temporary unfavorable repercussions.
Do your due diligence before you make assumptions about anything or anyone. Don’t piggyback your beliefs on someone else’s, but formulate your own opinions based on your own fact gathering, especially concerning campus-related issues.
DSU is undergoing an interesting era in its growth cycle, and everyone who’s here to experience it needs to pay attention to every little detail. I’m confident in Dixie Sun News and it’s future staff, who will be led by next year’s Editor-in-Chief Spencer Ricks, that it will continue to bring helpful insight to issues and events on DSU’s campus and the surrounding area.
Leaving Dixie Sun News, the organization I poured myself into for the past three years during the most tumultuous time in my life, behind is bittersweet. Cooperate with Ricks and Dixie Sun News’ future staff members to help them uncover issues specifically impacting you. No one ever went anywhere notable by remaining silent or brushing things under the rug.
Stay curious, Trailblazers.
