By Vivien Sorce

A CVU student in Journalism has finally met their first news story deadline following a semester of overdue pieces.

On January 11, at 10:30 am, the Hinesburg resident known as V – a senior at CVU – officially submitted their final article for review. Previous evidence provided by their teacher, Terwillegar, reveals that they missed the deadlines of submission for every one of their four articles written in the Journalism course over the semester. The four pieces have since been turned in. This slow progress posed a serious problem for both teacher and student, as part of Journalism is meant to be reporting news in a timely fashion.

V enrolled in the Journalism course in the spring of 2022: “I mean, this will be a great fun class for me, I’ll stop procrastinating, I can write about what I’m actually interested in, maybe do some photojournalism as well. I think this subject will be a favorite.” When the course began September 2nd, it turned out that may not be the case. 

The first piece began drafting in early September. V chose to write a longer feature article on Lgbtq+ rights across the US; this was without regard to the time constraints, or difficulty of the topic. While research and the general writing of the piece was steady paced and intriguing for them, interviews and revision were “a grueling process that turned out much more difficult and long lasting than expected.” The article started According to Terwillegar, “V turned in a great article, just… about a month and a half late.”

Despite V’s interest in the topic, writing in an accelerated timeline was notedly a challenge for them: “despite how hard I tried, I kept getting stuck on where to go next with my pieces as I attempted to write fast and interview people – I kept over analyzing my pieces and not being able to finish them on time.” Within almost three months, V only completed the one extensive feature article, when weekly submissions were expected. “As much as I love the class, I don’t think Journalism is quite working for me.”

Before Thanksgiving break, a new assignment was begun. Once again, due the day before break started, the package was ideally hashed out quickly and drafted so it could be revised. V fell behind by first revising the unfinished begining before even getting interviews – the piece was not finished for another three weeks after break. According to them, the package was a fun project because they got to work with video and sound elements as well. 

At this point a change occurred: by working with a fellow classmate on the next two pieces, they were able to collaborate on a piece on the CVU Darkroom, then a feature story on the new Ceramics teacher and room. These articles were much more enjoyable for them and both were nearly finished on time.

By the end of the course, Lede paragraphs were becoming second nature and interviews much easier. Writing in a way that included no opinion or author perspective was an interesting lesson that made V “think in a different way and write as if I were the reader.”

And deadlines: deadlines were starting to be met… after all, it’s about time.