A Strong Support System

After my first two semesters as a graduate student at Newhouse, I have learned that one of the only ways to survive the program is to have a strong support system. That means making friends with classmates and building close relationships.

I am a Broadcast & Digital Journalism (BDJ) major in Newhouse, which is 13-month accelerated program. We are learning the same things as the undergraduate BDJ students, but instead of four years, our program is compressed into just over a year.

We have to dedicate much of our lives to our school work. This also means that we don’t have a lot of time to do much else–to take advantage of both 0n-campus and off-campus broadcast opportunities. This includes the Orange Television Network, Z89, Citrus TV, ACC Network Extra, Daily Orange, WAER just to name a few. There’s also limited time for everyday activities. This includes sleep, work, social life, eating, etc.

With an accelerated program that requires a lot of time and energy and leaving you very little time do anything else, it brings stress–a lot stress. One way my cohort has been able to get through the summer and fall semester is by supporting each other. We’ve been like one big family ever since we have gotten to learn a little bit about each other, after those first few weeks of summer bootcamp.

When times are rough and we feel like giving up, we have been there to support each other. When we finally get an assignment turned in, we laugh together because it seems like we all faced the same struggles and found a way to overcome.

We also help each other grow. When we do a TV news package or a TV live-shot, we critique each other in hopes that we can grow and improve each week.

We go out together and host events at our homes or apartments. This allows us to get to know each other and begin to form relationships–relationships that could last a lifetime. Our professors are always telling us to make friends with the people we are sitting next to and I believe that to be true with the group of graduate students in the BDJ program this year. There are so many talented, friendly and likable people in this group.

They have been like a family away from home and without each other, I don’t know where we would be.