FINAL

Interviews:

Jack:

1) As Editor and Chief of The Bolt, how influential do you think Journalism Class was on the number of students who joined the staff this year?

I could not be more grateful for the journalism class happening this semester. I think it had a profound impact on generating interest in The Bolt. The class sparked interest in taking what we wrote in the class and applying it to a site that would actually publish the works for people to read. That’s what the articles are meant for, people to read and for them to make an impact on the world. I am so grateful that around a 4th of the class got interested in the Bolt and decided to join. The Bolt was a way to add a layer of reality to the Journalism class, and I think that the students who joined really understood that fact.
2) What lessons from class would you want them to keep in mind moving forward as staff writers?

The lessons I would want people to take away are basically everything we learned because it was all so valuable in building better writing habits. But I would say that the class taught us what it means to have people read your writing and be moved by it. There was such great content produced in that class and it was awesome to see it makes an impact on people. Strong writing can change the world and I love that we got a glimpse of the magnitude of that in class. I would also say, to keep writing, never stop producing. that way you keep getting better and better. If you write something great, then that awesome, but write more, and more and more. It’s only going to keep improving.

Rough Draft:

Journalism this semester taught a lot of the class much more than simply techniques and background in the field. It offered us all the chance to learn something new about ourselves.

For some, it was getting to know new people and earning a mutual respect through group editing with them they may have never had before as two ships in the night in the sea of UNE’s student body.

For me, Harry, Nick, and Taylor, the impact of what we learned offered a chance for lightning to strike all of us.

No, there wasn’t a meteorology unit in the class that had catastrophic results; it was in the form of The Bolt, UNE’s Premiere Student newspaper that has recently rebranded from Nor’Easter News.

The class itself opened up the doorway for many of us to dive into Journalism on a broader and more impactful scale, and without it, most of us would have never joined in the first place.

Blank recalls that they would have “insert quote here” (never joined journalism without this class) and Blank’s 2 and 3 wholeheartedly agree.

Blank 2 felt “__,” while Blank 3 felt “__.”

When asked what about the class pushed them to join The Bolt, they all had very different rationales for taking this next step in their journalistic endeavors.

Blank reffered to “___” as the main influence from class, while Blank 2 stated it was “__” and Blank 3 felt more along the lines of “__”

This makes sense when examining how impactful the class was on the students. Blank recalled “__” really speaking to them. Blank 2 found “__” really striking a chord with them, while Blank 3 simply felt “__” was the most important takeaway.

These three very different students joining The Bolt was a fairly unprecedented reaction to the class.

Editor and Chief of The Bolt itself, Communications Major Jack Allsopp ’21, couldn’t be more grateful to the class for generating interest in and being a strong catalyst driving new members to the student news outlet.

Jack stated, “I think it had a profound impact on generating interest in The Bolt. The class sparked interest in taking what we wrote in the class and applying it to a site that would actually publish the works for people to read.”

He feels strongly that this is what the various articles we were writing throughout the class were meant for “people to read and for them to make an impact on the world.”

Jack was also a member of the class and wants his new staff writers to take away some key lessons as well, specifically stating “the lessons I would want people to take away are basically everything we learned because it was all so valuable in building better writing habits.”

But Jack dug deeper and expanded upon this with “But I would say that the class taught us what it means to have people read your writing and be moved by it. There was such great content produced in that class and it was awesome to see it makes an impact on people.”

He said he feels that strong writing can truly change the world and loves “that we got a glimpse of the magnitude of that in class.”

Jack also encourages the new staff writers to keep writing and honing their skills as well as to “never stop producing.” He feels that “if you write something great, then that’s awesome, but write more, and more and more. It’s only going to keep improving.”

All-in-all though, the Editor and Chief is just deeply appreciative to the class for the immense interest it brought to The Bolt.

“I am so grateful that around a 4th of the class got interested in the Bolt and decided to join. The Bolt was a way to add a layer of reality to the Journalism class, and I think that the students who joined really understood that fact.”

Nick:

What would you say has been the most impactful thing you’ve learned from
class?
I would say being able to critique someone else’s work face-to-face. It’s easy to correct
grammar and spelling and simple stuff like that, but telling someone they should rework
a lead or paragraph can be hard for some people, which I think we all had some trouble
with in the beginning.
Do you think you would have ever joined The Bolt without this class?
No, because I wouldn’t have known where to look or who to even ask about joining The
Bolt. The class gave me the opportunity to get introduced to The Bolt, formerly
Nor’easter News, for the first time.
What aspects of this class may have pushed you towards The Bolt?
I like. the environment of the class. I enjoyed the constant brainstorming we all did each
class and it’s just fun to read other people’s writing to see how it differs from my own.
What lessons from Journalism class are going to be most helpful moving
forward as a Bolt Staff writer?
Being able to more effectively revise my own writing as well as someone else’s writing will be helpful. Being on The Bolt means I will be revising the work of other reporters, and without this class, I believe I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to improve my revision skills the way that I did.

Taylor:

What would you say has been the most impactful thing you’ve learned from
class?
I think the most impactful part of this class for me, was the workshops. Being able to all
come together as a class lead me to open my eyes to other opinions, insights, and helpful
hints. I appreciated every comment that I got when we got together and talked as a class.
Do you think you would have ever joined The Bolt without this class?
I honestly don’t think that I really would have joined without this class. This intro to
journalism class gave me so much more confidence as a writer. I was able learn about
myself as a writer with this class. I was able to understand and learn new technique’s
that helped me even figure out what I wanted to write about.
What aspects of this class may have pushed you towards The Bolt?
The community of the class really gave me the push I needed. When I joined, Kole and
Nick were already a part of the club. They would talk about it during class about their
meetings, or promote the club. So I joined. I said why not and went to a meeting.
What lessons from Journalism class are going to be most helpful moving
forward as a Bolt Staff writer?
I definitely took away a lot from the conversations regarding Intergrations of quotes. I
am so accustomed to writing academic papers, where there isn’t many quotes from
people for academic writings. And another topic that I really appreciated talking about is
how to interview someone. Before this class, I had really never actually interviewed
someone, so it was helpful to learn how and techniques to interview someone. And these
techniques are things that I will be able to hold onto even outside of this class and The
Bolt.

Harry:

What would you say has been the most impactful thing you’ve learned from class?

The biggest thing I learned was in writing a piece that gathers the attention of your reader. It’s difficult to make something that really sticks with people but knowing how to format and begin a story makes it a bit easier.

Do you think you would have ever joined The Bolt without this class?

No I definitely wouldn’t have, as I was asked to join the club by members of the class after a peer review session for my first piece. I’m very glad I was able to be a part of that, if only for a short time.

What aspects of this class may have pushed you towards The Bolt?

I really enjoy writing, and I also take pleasure in sharing something with others. Journalism covers both of these aspects very well.

What lessons from Journalism class are going to be most helpful moving forward as a Bolt Staff writer?

There are a few major things I will takeaway from it, like how to interview someone for an article, and then how to use those quotes to form a piece that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Final Draft:

The Bolt Strikes for Members of UNE’s Journalism Class

Journalism this semester taught a lot of the class much more than simply techniques and background in the field. It offered us all the chance to learn something new about ourselves.

For some, it was getting to know new people and earning a mutual respect they may have never had before as two ships in the night in the vast sea of UNE’s student body.

For me, Harry, Nick, and Taylor, the impact of what we learned offered a chance for lightning to strike all of us.

No, there wasn’t a meteorology unit in the class that had catastrophic results; it was in the form of The Bolt, UNE’s Student newspaper that has recently rebranded from Nor’Easter News.

The class itself opened up the doorway for many of us to dive into Journalism on a broader and more impactful scale, and without it, most of us would have never joined in the first place.

Nick Scarfo 21’ recalls that “I wouldn’t have known where to look or who to even ask about joining The Bolt. The class gave me the opportunity to get introduced to The Bolt… for the first time.” Harry Wardwell and Taylor Arnold, both graduating in 2022, wholeheartedly agreed.

Taylor felt “I honestly don’t think that I really would have joined without this class” and that the class was a great confidence booster for her as a writer, before recalling “I was able learn about
myself as a writer with this class. I was able to understand and learn new technique’s
that helped me even figure out what I wanted to write about,” while for Harry it was almost more of a chance occurrence.

Harry very earnestly stated of whether he would have joined The Bolt otherwise “No I definitely wouldn’t have, as I was asked to join the club by members of the class after a peer review session for my first piece. I’m very glad I was able to be a part of that, if only for a short time.”

While they all agree Intro to Journalism was what got them involved in The Bolt, when asked what about the class pushed them to join the publication, they all had very different rationales for taking this next step in their journalistic endeavors.

Taylor referred to the community generated in the classroom as a driving factor and what “really gave me the push I needed.” Elaborating on this, she further explained “when I joined, Kole and Nick were already a part of the club. They would talk about it during class; about their
meetings, or promote the club. So I joined. I said why not and went to a meeting.”

For Nick, the classroom environment this community created was what did it for him.

He expands on this idea with “I enjoyed the constant brainstorming we all did each class, and it’s just fun to read other people’s writing to see how it differs from my own.”

For Harry though, the draw came from more personal reasons. As he put it so simply, “I really enjoy writing, and I also take pleasure in sharing something with others. Journalism covers both of these aspects very well.”

This driving force makes even more sense when examining how impactful the class was on the students turned staff writers. Harry recalled the concept of “writing a piece that gathers the attention of your reader” really speaking to him. “It’s difficult to make something that really sticks with people, but knowing how to format and begin a story makes it a bit easier.”

Nick and Taylor both found the workshops to really strike a chord with them, though.

Taylor explained “being able to all come together as a class led me to open my eyes to other opinions, insights, and helpful hints. I appreciated every comment that I got when we got together and talked as a class.”

Nick expanded on this idea of trying to critique someone face to face, believing “it’s easy to correct grammar and spelling and simple stuff like that, but telling someone they should rework a lead or paragraph can be hard for some people, which I think we all had some trouble with in the beginning.

These three very different students joining The Bolt was a fairly unprecedented reaction to the class.

Jack stated, “I think it had a profound impact on generating interest in The Bolt. The class sparked interest in taking what we wrote in the class and applying it to a site that would actually publish the works for people to read.”

He felt strongly that the various articles we were writing throughout the class were meant for “people to read and for them to make an impact on the world.”

Jack was also a member of the class and wants his new staff writers to take away some key lessons as well, specifically stating “the lessons I would want people to take away are basically everything we learned, because it was all so valuable in building better writing habits.”

But Jack dug deeper and expanded upon this with “but I would say that the class taught us what it means to have people read your writing and be moved by it. There was such great content produced in that class and it was awesome to see it make an impact on people.”

He said he feels that strong writing can truly change the world and loves “that we got a glimpse of the magnitude of that in class.”

Jack also encourages the new staff writers to keep writing and honing their skills, as well as to “never stop producing.” He feels that “if you write something great, then that’s awesome, but write more, and more, and more. It’s only going to keep improving.”

All-in-all though, the Editor and Chief is just deeply appreciative to the class for the immense interest it brought to The Bolt.

“I am so grateful that around a 4th of the class got interested in The Bolt and decided to join. The Bolt was a way to add a layer of reality to the Journalism class, and I think that the students who joined really understood that fact.”