2008 Woodie Awards
Experience beats grades
Valerie West
Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: Opinion
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It's another Thursday morning around 3 a.m. Most of The North Wind staff has left for the night but I am still finishing the newspaper. I want to go home and sleep because I have an exam in the morning, but I can't.
As I walk out into an empty parking lot I know that the paper will roll off the press in a few hours and The North Wind will grace the hallways of campus. No doubt grammar and headline errors will greet me on my walk to class after a brief nap, evidence of our fatigue coupled with inexperience. And on Friday, we'll plan for next week's issue and the madness will begin again.
This is how I've spent most of my Wednesday nights and Thursday mornings of my college career in our hodgepodge office in the University Center, neglecting schoolwork and exercise. But, I would do it all over again.
I graduate in less than three weeks and in my four years at Northern, I have met and interviewed recording artists, directors and campus and community bigwigs. My tenure at this small weekly paper has allowed me to work with a diverse group of young people while better preparing me for a future career in journalism.
Even though my grades have suffered some from my work here it was well worth the experience.
College is much more than completing course work and graduating with a stellar GPA. Nobody cares what I got on my chemistry tests, and I can guarantee future employers aren't going to see much difference from a 3 point to a 4 point. What they are going to care about is what students did in their college career.
College Hiring 2006, a survey by careerbuilder.com, listed the top things employers are looking for in college grads. Topping the charts at no. 1 is relevant job experience. Employers want to see what college grads can do outside of the classroom.
A student who can balance work, school and a social life shows that he or she can balance responsibilities. Internships, work and volunteering all fall under this category.
As I walk out into an empty parking lot I know that the paper will roll off the press in a few hours and The North Wind will grace the hallways of campus. No doubt grammar and headline errors will greet me on my walk to class after a brief nap, evidence of our fatigue coupled with inexperience. And on Friday, we'll plan for next week's issue and the madness will begin again.
This is how I've spent most of my Wednesday nights and Thursday mornings of my college career in our hodgepodge office in the University Center, neglecting schoolwork and exercise. But, I would do it all over again.
I graduate in less than three weeks and in my four years at Northern, I have met and interviewed recording artists, directors and campus and community bigwigs. My tenure at this small weekly paper has allowed me to work with a diverse group of young people while better preparing me for a future career in journalism.
Even though my grades have suffered some from my work here it was well worth the experience.
College is much more than completing course work and graduating with a stellar GPA. Nobody cares what I got on my chemistry tests, and I can guarantee future employers aren't going to see much difference from a 3 point to a 4 point. What they are going to care about is what students did in their college career.
College Hiring 2006, a survey by careerbuilder.com, listed the top things employers are looking for in college grads. Topping the charts at no. 1 is relevant job experience. Employers want to see what college grads can do outside of the classroom.
A student who can balance work, school and a social life shows that he or she can balance responsibilities. Internships, work and volunteering all fall under this category.
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