Ella Hahs. Communication: Print and Digital Journalism

The only thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was an international, award-winning, British actor. However, after I came to the realization that I lack any prodigious skill of acting, the past six months of speaking strictly in a British accent seemed like a large waste of time. The rest of my childhood was spent cycling through different aspirations: a fleeting culinary expedition, amateur singer, seamstress and my particularly long stint of pretending I was a typical cubicle-dwelling office worker.

I finally landed on becoming a lawyer after I was forced to argue the legality of burning the American flag in our high school’s moot court rendition of Texas v. Johnson. After laying out what I believed to be an open-and-shut argument, our court of four highschoolers ruled in favor of Texas. I took this loss on the cheek with a newfound love of the legal system, the art of arguing and a clarity for my future. I was going to go to law school to become an attorney.

Finding a major in Mississippi State proved harder than I thought it would be. I dabbled in political science, psychology, and then English before Print and Digital Journalism fell into my lap. I was initially skeptical of this, as I tend to be on the shy side and interviewing total strangers felt like an impossible feat for me. But my love for writing and sharing stories trumped this fear.

Through the classes I’ve taken for my concentration, I also found that some of my favorite projects were through my photography courses. This past fall, I did a semester-long project where I visited various students’ houses and photographed personal decor items, exploring why they choose various items with sentimental value to give college students a piece of home in unfamiliar environments.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed the process of taking photos, I would not go so far as to say that I have any great talent in photography. Writing has always been my passion; in a perfect world I would just write stories.

Specifically, I love personal narratives, or any narrative journalistic writing. What initially deterred me from fully diving into the journalism world was what I felt was very impersonal and clinical writing. However, through my classes in my later years of schooling, I learned that there are so many other ways to write in journalism that are still artistic. This is what I would consider a strength of mine.

I have taken broadcast classes, photography classes and writing classes. For this class, Multimedia Journalism, I am eager to see how all three will be threaded together.

After my collegiate career unexpectedly turned to journalism, I found it difficult to figure out how my love for the legal system would work with my major. Although I know my next steps are going to law school, I have yet to establish my career after the fact.

I don’t want to fully let go of journalism, which is why I have looked into becoming a legal analyst for a news corporation, or even being a legal consultant for newspapers.

No matter what path I take in my life, I know what I learned from all my journalism classes will work their way into my future and love for writing.

Email me at ech386@msstate.edu with any questions