Photo by Anna Szachacz
As a student you don’t often get the chance to experience what it’s like on the other side of the wall — the wall that separates professionals with intricately-worded theories and questions from minors with inky pens and thick white-paged notebooks.
SXSWedu provided me with the eye-opening and raw experience of what it’s like being a reporter and a true member of the journalism world. Sitting and listening to a presentation about how brain science and stress correlated, I felt a sense of ease knowing that I was in the same boat as everyone else. I, too, was here because I wanted to learn about this topic and I, too, was furiously jotting down scientific words that I would later have to look up on the internet.
It was also exhilarating to be able to interview one of the panelists — which showed me how accessible everyone and everything is if you took initiative and asked for what you wanted
My favorite moment of this SXSWedu experience was actually seeing how genuinely interested and invested we all are in the events that happen in our world and daily lives and the various ways we document and showcase our learnings.
Whether it’s through documentaries about war and conflict, hosting talks about brain science, or writing books about the pros and cons of a college education, it’s amazing to me to see how the power of journalism can expose either the nitty gritty or the massively known aspects of our world.
Trinh Ha attends the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin, Texas
