Power to the people

The people at Reynolds have been just as important as the lessons about teaching, journalism, or technology and will remain so as we leave and head home. 

When I was in college, I was in an honors program. It wasn't until I got my first teaching job that I realized the actual value of it - meeting the people in my community and helping establish relationships with them. During school I shrugged when people said that making those relationships was the lasting effect.

Now I realize how wrong I was and appreciate the true importance of creating a network of people around you that can help you and support you.

I wrote my article about the News21 program. The student journalists that I talked to said something similar- learning what they have about technology and multimedia storytelling has been great, but equally important to them are the relationships that they have made with well-known professional journalists.
Those relationships will play an equally important role in shaping them as journalists and helping them in their career in the future.

I'm certain the same will be true of the 2012 Cronkite School Reynolds folks.
We will all go back into some sort of unknown this fall ready to use what we learned here. We all learned something different and will focus on something different at home. We'll have each other to reach out to for help and support. Or at least I offer myself up for that. And I warn my fellow Reynolds fellows and instructors that I will probably call on you when I have questions or want to share something. That's the lesson I've learned - classroom lessons are important and useful, but the relationships you make with people and the lessons they teach you have just as much if not more of an impact. SO if I may say so, I suggest we stay in touch. I will keep an eye on our wonderful Facebook group, a testament to our support and sharing.
I want to hear how you have used your learning. I want to know what you do for your First Amendment project! I want to hear what went well and what flopped. You teach me just as much as anything else!

Thanks Steve, Alan, Anita, all the presenters, all the behinds the scenes people. Thanks to my fellow Reynolds teachers. You've all been an infinite source of wisdom and support these couple weeks.
I promise I'll return the favor!

Hannah Sagaser
Mandan High School
Mandan, ND