Showing Us Work Mentality

by Leslyn Smith

Walking into the building of the Youth Media Project on June 1 was nerve-wrecking. I walked in late, then went to the wrong floor. I didn't know anyone. I was so nervous. There were so many reasons to be nervous. One of them was being the only student from Callaway High School, and walking into a place where you don't know anybody is a little frustrating. Will anybody like you? Will anybody want to talk to you? But the students at YMP are so open and friendly. 

The YMP staff are great. They make you feel like you belong. After sitting around for 15 minutes, they wanted us to make appointments with people in the room. My mouth dropped. In my head I was thinking, "Who Leslyn, no I'm not."  But then I was like, "I'm here. I might as well just go ahead and do it."

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 ​On my second day of YMP, it was a little better. I got off at the right floor, and I was on time. We did interviews with my partner. I learned a lot about her. We had a lot of fun on the second day.

​When we were getting ready to go to lunch, I was super nervous because I didn't know anybody to go with, but I found a group of people and made friends. While we were walking to get something to eat, one of my peers tripped over a fire hydrant. It was funny after we saw she was OK. 

Going to lunch by ourselves was pretty fun because we don't get to do that in school a lot. I feel like YMP shows us how the real world is going to be. It's showing us work mentality and how to be professional. I'm very grateful for YMP and its staff.

So far my YMP experience has been interesting, fun and a good learning experience. I have learned the importance of making friends, I have learned the basics of writing in the journalism world. 

I wouldn't mind doing the short documentary on the topic my team and me came up with. Doing interviews with people is fun; it's learning about people that you probably wouldn't talk to if you knew them somewhere else. Learning about other people's lives is fascinating. 

Walking into this program, I thought it would be boring and just lame, but it's fun. We learn while having fun. When my mother said it was from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., I looked at her like she was crazy. I wasn't planning on getting out of my bed every day this summer, especially not that early. 

Being honest, I didn't want to come because I don't see my future in this. Let my mother tell it, I'm going to be a great journalist and photographer. I really think she just doesn't want me in the house all day. But every day I come, it gets better and better. 


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