“Our student-writers rose to the challenge, producing authentic, responsible and powerful pieces”
I agree with the statement above. Personally, the process of writing a feature article about Vasu, and more broadly about the circus service as a whole, challenged me. Knowing it was going to have an authentic audience motivated me to write a more compelling piece. Through the research process, I learnt much more about the service that I am a part of and about Vasu, who I had known before but there were a lot of things about his journey with juggling and circus that I did not know before. I have also come to realise how much more circus is than just trying to perform the coolest and best tricks I can. Circus is about teaching and empowering others. I hope I have been able to convey this through my article. This learning enabled me to write a more authentic and powerful article and, I hope, a more powerful message.
How far does this describe your experience? Consider the insights* [to journalistic storytelling, to our community] that you gained, and the personal rewards and challenges of the process.
It was rewarding to have Vasu’s mother come to me at Family Festival and say that she liked my article about Vasu. I realise now that knowing I had an audience that was going to care about my article helped me to be more motivated to write insightfully. It was challening to do justice to the topic, to make sure that I represented Vasu well, but I do think now that I could have written better if I had interviewed more people and included their comments.
“It was rewarding to have Vasu’s mother come to me at Family Festival and say that she liked my article about Vasu.”
What brilliant feedback!
And nice insight to conclude: “but I do think now that I could have written better if I had interviewed more people and included their comments.”