It is hard to believe that I was sitting for the first time in front of Pitt to the Point: TV News Practicum a few months ago. There were some familiar faces, people who had taken the class with me the previous semester (you can take the course twice!), and some new faces, including many who had not even taken Broadcast 1, the entire class for the certificate. During that first class, many of the students seemed intimated by the class and the amount of skill and time that goes into a class of this nature—especially one that is based on the real world instead of a traditional class schedule. The hardest part of the course for me was the first few weeks trying to get everybody to feel comfortable with camera, editing, and production skills in time for the first show. I needed to have office hours and in-class lessons and use my peers who had already taken the class to help me with this process. But each time I taught a lesson, teaching became more accessible and manageable. I learned everybody in the class names, what skills they learned, and their personality. As we all got closer, I could make connections with everyone, and because of that, teaching became more accessible and more manageable. I don’t think I can look at learning the same outside the classroom; broadcasting is a unique field to teach. I can try teaching someone editing or camera work, but you cannot understand it until you do it. So, I figured out the best way to prepare it: to give them the basics and then have them email me questions as they go. The amount of work each student, needed to put in to make the class and each show successful made me proud and happy for this class. 

            Throughout this experience, I have found that I love teaching and that, no matter what, I want it to be a part of my life. However, something I want to take out of this class is the ability of the class to support each other. Each week, a student has some responsibility, and it needs to be done for themselves and the class. Each week, the students work as hard as possible to make the best videos and stories and finish an entire story by Friday morning. They would attend class thirty minutes early on a Friday at 6 am to help them peer who might need it. The support they gave each other showed me how students should interact and the support you can give your peers. Each student worked as hard as possible for their friends, and I hope to take that with me and realize almost everything I do affects someone else. 

            After this class, I realized how much I love television production. I cannot wait to be a producer and keep telling important stories. But I also want to teach part-time. I love sharing Television production with students and making them fall in love with it similarly. Pitt to the Point is my favorite and essential class of my academic experience.