A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending my day with Mrs. Murray’s ninth grade history classes at Clarkston Junior High School.
The students were assigned a project to interview someone born before 1955 and the teacher asked me to come in and teach the students some interview techniques.
Since I studied education in college, a classroom environment is a familiar setting.
Besides writing, teaching is a real passion of mine and I love coming into classrooms to take photos or interview students.
Mostly I was just a guest speaker for the classes, but I also got to call some students up during class and do impromptu interviews with them about a topic of their choice. We talked about magic, fishing, dance, the championship basketball game, yearbook, a wide variety of topics.
Students were also able to ask me questions about my career as a journalist.
I encourage high school students and young adults not to shun a liberal arts degree, all my graduated friends have jobs in their chosen fields, mostly education and communications.
As a community newspaper reporter, I’m not only here to write about the Clarkston community, but also to learn about and be utilized by the community.
Part of my job is to get to know the community and its people and, as the school district reporter, I’d like to know Clarkston educators better and form a relationship to find out interesting activities happening in Clarkston classrooms.
Being a guest speaker is also a great experience, for any classes related to reporting or that have an interview-type assignment.
As a recent Michigan State University graduate, I can also speak to high schoolers about my college experience and answer their questions.
I encourage Clarkston Community School members to reach out to me in the future if there’s any different, exciting learning or events going on inside their classrooms.
One of the best parts of my job is covering Clarkston schools and talking to students in the community.

– Jessica Steeley

  Jessica’s Journal