West Virginia Uncovered

When I joined this class last semester, I had a vague idea of what it was going to entail. I’d heard hard work, group work, and travel were involved, and I had seen the product of some of the students’ efforts. I also saw some of the friendships that had been formed in previous classes and was excited. As journalism students we are inherently social creatures.

Last semester I didn’t get that friendship vibe from our class. Don’t get me wrong- I became friends with both of my former partners on Facebook. I still sit next to one of them in another class. I’m proud of the work we did last semester and the product of our labors. But that even-after-you-leave-school-I’m-still-tweeting-at-you bond that former classmates had was evasive.

And then this semester, Immersion weekend happened.

72 hours of living, working, and traveling with people you don’t really know seems intimidating. It can go either way. Having to work together to produce something that impacts your entire career is stressful and exciting.

Watching other people produce work and seeing the stages of progression from raw audio files to edited audio narratives can only help our storytelling skills. As a person who would rather sit in a room by myself and edit, working with two partners to decide every picture, every pause, and every bit of audio was a new experience and one I was surprised I enjoyed. We all have different opinions, which doesn’t mean anyone is wrong or right. Hearing other peoples reasoning for where they wanted to place things was informative and gave me new insight.

Living together was what made the experience what it was though. The entire class stayed at the adorable Old Clark Inn for the weekend. Twenty+ Journalists in one building led to some of the most interesting adventures I’ve ever experienced. I send my belated apologies to the two other rooms that were occupied by people outside of our adventure.

We heard live bluegrass played in a house of locals, one of whom worked where Candace was doing her story and another who worked at the Pocahontas Times. We invaded the River Pub for the night, and were asked by a man as we entered if “school had just let out.” My partners and I were encouraged by our interview subject to handle a large saw. None of this was what I expected but all of it made this weekend a great bonding experience.

Relationships with other journalists are important. The work produced with people you respect and admire as well as enjoy is always going to be superior to work produced by people who don’t get along. Immersion weekend seemed to make our class bond in a way you just cannot in the fall semester.

At the end of the weekend, we all had compelling audio narratives and photographs to polish in class today, and a few new friends.