Undergraduate / 'Yearbooks and peers' - USC - Annenberg Statement of Intent [3]

Prompt: Explain your reasons for pursuing an education and career in journalism or public relations

I wait for it every year - the moment my peers open up their yearbooks for the first time, their faces lighting up as they flip through the product I created. A feeling of satisfaction washes over me as I imagine them in 20 years, carrying those same yearbooks at our high school reunion. Journalism fuses my passion for English and my love for working with people, allowing me to serve my peers by commemorating significant events.

Not everyone knows me personally, but most recognize the girl with the huge DSLR camera at every school function, the girl rushing to get a quote from the homecoming queen immediately after the crowning, the girl who shamelessly eavesdrops on conversations and interrupts, asking 1) if anyone has pictures from the event they're talking about, and 2) if Yearbook or Newspaper have permission to feature it.

In the newsroom, after an event, I feel at home. With the touchdown that had the student section roaring still fresh in my mind, I let my fingers type away, pouring out the written word. I tamper with graphics until I've created the perfect design to showcase the night's highlights, and drop in the dominant photo I took a mere five feet away from the star quarterback. Through my eyes, my peers will relive the night and remember all its best moments. I hover my cursor over the submit button. Then I stop myself. There's no way it's perfect before the deadline. It never is.