Running head: REFLECTIVE SELF ANALYSIS

Reflective Self-Analysis Paper

REFLECTIVE SELF-ANALYSIS

I was born and raised in Akron, OH. Not the biggest place but not the smallest. Not the
fastest but not the slowest. Growing up in the Akron Public School system you didnt here too
often that you could be great or anything you wanted to be, but my parents told me I was going
to be great. Hearing this consistently growing up made me feel as though the world was truly my
oyster. Early on in school I learned that I loved English and History. I had a knack for reading
and comprehension as well as writing. Math and science were not my strong subjects, so I knew
that whatever I did with my life would involve something utilizing my reading and writing skills.
By the age of 14, I knew I wanted to be a journalist, but I did not know how I was going to get
there. I did not come across too many people who were journalists or knew journalists therefore
they could not help me get where I wanted to be. I began researching colleges with great
journalism departments and reading other student experiences to gather a better idea of how I can
achieve my goal. Fast-forward today I am a rising senior at Kent State with three journalism
internships, a web design job, a magazine and several clips under my belt. How did the tiny,
quiet girl start the track of her dreams? Who is she now? And what is her plan to keep
progressing towards not just a goal, but a dream? Well, I am still figuring it all out but I have
come a long way. I have heard your past influences your future, sometimes for the best and
sometimes for the worst, well I think the obstacles I have overcome in my personal and
professional life have and continue to shape who I am and where I am going positively.
My stepfathers name was Ronald Ronnie Childers. He was a man of few words, but an
intelligent man. He valued education and pushed me to work hard so I could receive one. He
served in the Vietnam War two tours, although he loved his experience, he regretted not
choosing college. Ever since I was a little girl he told me that I could get my degree and be great,
and I believed that. When I got to high school I did well academically but not as well as I could

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have. I became distracted by the infamous elements of high school: boys, friends, looks, body
image etc. At that point those things seemed so important, its amusing to look back and see how
menial they really are. My junior year of high school my stepfather became ill, and we did not
know what was wrong. He began forgetting where he put things, then he forgot our names, then
he forgot how to drive. It progressively got worse, and it happened so quickly. To watch
someone whose mind was strong regress to the mindset of a child was mind boggling. After
several MRIs we finally discovered that he had several mini strokes and Dementia. My moms
heart was broken and I was confused. Our life took a crazy downward spiral after that, I spent
my whole junior and senior year battling that situation. Ironically during that time my grades got
better, and I became even more focused on my future. Hindsight, I buckled down for Ronnie, I
got my head together and refocused myself because it is what he would want from me. By the
time I graduated high school he was in a nursing home because the doctor instructed us to put
him there. We did not have the means or the education to properly care for him after a certain
point. I graduated and he wasnt there, that hurt. I got my college acceptance letters my senior
year, and he wasnt there, that hurt. My mom and biological father moved me into my dorm
freshman year at Kent State University, but still he couldnt be there, and that hurt. Everything
he encouraged me to strive for I achieved and he couldnt even see it, and that really hurts. I have
to say that Ronnie is upon one of my biggest influences. He helped shape who and what I was
going to be. This situation represents a journey and has a tremendous impact on where I stand
today.
My freshman year of college, I thought I was really mature. I thought my situation had
made me the ultimate. Except for one thing, everyone has a story. My story made me no more
mature, stronger, or smarter than anyone else. Once I began to meet different people from

REFLECTIVE SELF-ANALYSIS

various backgrounds I learned that and I grew from that. I learned more in the past three years
then I could have ever imagined learning. You hear from people that college is full of life
lessons, but I had to experience it for myself. Now I get it, you will meet friends and lose them,
you will date and be heartbroken, you will work your hardest in a class and still get a B or C. It
all happens to the best of us, but the important thing is to learn from it. I am not the same girl
from freshman year. I am smarter, stronger, wiser, and even more determined to challenge
myself and be the best I can be. I feel that I am more well-rounded, tolerant, and accepting of
different things and people. I have grown professionally and personally with every experience
and I gain something that will prepare me for what the future holds. The funny thing is, I never
thought I would learn and grow this much at a university that is 15minutes from my front door. I
always thought going out-of-state to college would teach me the world, but I got that all at Kent
State. I am grateful for the past lessons and look forward to the future lessons.
When I was accepted at Kent State I knew my major would be journalism. I chose this
major and stuck with this major for two full years, and then I became a communication studies
major. Often times I heard, Oh, why are you taking the easy way out?, but in actuality I wanted
a broader degree. I did exceptionally well in JMC and student media, so I did not leave because I
was struggling. When I learned more about the media industry and the careers offered I felt this
major would open more opportunities. Communication studies taught me more than just get out
and talk to people, it taught me how people communicate and why they communicate in certain
ways. Understanding communication enables me to conduct better interviews for news stories,
make better connections among sources, and a stronger writer. In my articles, I now try to write
conversationally because I learned this appeals to readers. It takes more than just delivering the

REFLECTIVE SELF-ANALYSIS

facts, the story must be readable and understandable. I had to make people understand, all
because my major changed did not mean my dream changed.
Since I have the experience of two majors I have been challenged by courses in the journalism
department and the communications department. In the journalism department my most
challenging courses were Print Beat and Visual Design Media: Advanced. Print Beat required
covering a beat for the Daily Kent Stater newspaper. I covered the diversity beat which was
among one of the most demanding beats at the paper. Since Kent State is all about diversity,
there were several groups and events to cover. The most challenging event I had as a campus
reporter was when I had to cover the coming of Westboro Baptist Church. This extremist group
wanted to attack Kent State for suspending Sam Wheeler after his comment against the LGBT
community. The church felt he should have his rights to freedom of speech. They threatened to
rally at Kent State, but they never showed up. At the time, that was the most stressful situation to
cover, but I did get a great story on the PRIDE! organization protest. The group led a peaceful
walk across campus shouting for equality. This was a challenge but it provided me with breaking
news experience, and a great clip in my portfolio. Visual Design Media: Advanced required
detailed projects to be created in Adobe Photoshop and Premier. At the time, I was greatly
unfamiliar with this software, and designing entire projects in them were difficult at first, but I
finished the class with a B+ and actually learned how to navigate and design in the systems.
Those skills are so important and I look forward to building upon it. In the communication
department my most challenging courses were High Impact Speaking and Communication
Research Methods. I love writing and talking with people, but speaking in public, is not exactly
my strong point. I also have a fear of group projects, because I feel something always goes
wrong or someone always drops the ball on their end. The most challenging event in this class

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was the group speech we had to prepare. Working in a team is always challenging, but
everyones speech delivery and information was different. Even though we spoke on the same
main topic and evenly distributed the subtopics our deliveries did not flow with one another. Our
professor could sense the lack of unity in our presentation and it was quite embarrassing. From
this experience I did learn the importance of actually working and practicing together. I learned
that it requires more effort than just dividing the work, completing it separately, and bringing it
all together the day of presentation. Despite the speech I received a decent grade and learned
how to work together on an organized speech.
When I graduate in May, 2016 it will be one of the happiest days of my life, and I plan to
use my degree to its fullest. I first want to use my degree as a stepping stone to pursue graduate
school. While in grad school I will job and internship hunt for positions I could obtain while
pursuing my masters degree in the media field. I want to be an editorial journalist that reports on
arts and culture for either a print, online or hybrid publication. I would also consider public
relations or social media positions for a company. I am currently applying for graduate schools in
Chicago in Los Angeles. I am ready for a big move, because I believe that my hard work and
experience can carry me far if I put myself in a media flourishing environment. Since jobs are
not too willing to always relocate employees, the biggest step for me is to move where the jobs
are. I then want to network in the community because who you know can sometimes makes a
huge difference in landing a job. My dream careers are with companies such as Essence
Magazine, Oprah Network, Harpo Studios, Complex Magazine and the LA Times. Along with
the determination to meet my goals and aspirations I will use my past experiences and education
to achieve a desirable position in the media field.