Seoha: On the first day of the DM team, I didn’t really know about this class. I was excited that people would see my article. It was challenging to write some interesting titles for the articles. My favorite article was “Back 2 School”. I hope many students join the DM team.
SeoEun: I was a little bit worried because I was not sure I could do it. And I was not sure why I’m here because I didn’t choose this elective. But after writing my first article about going back to school, I felt it was not that hard. My first article was Back 2 school. Not only me, Aarkin, Hannah, Woojin, and Seoha also wrote it together. I feel challenged when I have to come up with an idea. One time, we spent 30 minutes coming up with the name of our article. My favorite article was Autumn Festival; Chuseok because we got to share what day is Chuseok. In the future DM team, I hope to have more fun articles.
Aarkin: “I enjoyed this class, however it was short. I actually like the fact that we had multiple choice in making articles and videos and then it was actually towarded to the audience. My favorite part of the class was the bad & jokes, and the fun times we had. My favorite article was “Shattered Glass Leaves Students Shocked”
Hannah: This was my second semester as a part of The Direct Message and I’m so upset I won’t be in it next semester. Unlike last year, I worked on a bunch of videos and group articles that were posted to the website. I definitely had more confidence with my writing this time and I am proud of my work. I became more comfortable with getting and using quotes for my articles. My favorite article of mine is either the Friday Night Lights or MESAC Swim Meet article. I spent the most time and effort on those two and I think it shows. For all future members of The Direct Message team, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to have fun and participate. What makes this class so great is that the students have a lot of control, so take advantage of that, share your voice and write what you’re passionate about.
Jihong: At first I was a bit nervous about joining the DM team because I didn't exactly know what we were going to do, but I still wanted to join to see what it was about. My first article that I wrote on my own is the ASIAC soccer article.
I think I gained more confidence from this article because I got more used to writing articles and people giving me feedback also helped a lot. I felt challenged while writing articles when I did not know how to make the introduction to the article and when I was writing from a specific perspective of the event.
My favorite article was the School Lunch article because I think I put in good criticisms and suggestions and solutions for the problem.
I hope that the future DM team will write more articles that will help inform others about important things.
Though we ourselves may be disconnected and divided from one another, deep within our souls resides the capability to surmount these differences. To waste your life struggling at roadblock after roadblock, failing to see the light at the end of the tunnel, is no more than a dead soul. Life teaches us that no matter the difficulties life throws at us, we can overcome these challenges of magnifying frustration and one day, we’ll look back at where we’ve come from, and be amazed at how far we’ve come.
Woojin: One thing I enjoyed in the Media Publication class was writing and uploading “Fall Fiesta Reborns This Year”. Because I felt proud of myself by doing this work independently, and giving my effort all. Although the article was the best out of all articles I have written so far, it was challenging at the same time. But I think this challenging work was worth it.
Anya: Being on the DM team was something I really enjoyed. At first I had no idea what this class was, but once I published my first article I felt proud and really started to enjoy this class. I think I slowly started to gain confidence in the articles I wrote, and the whole process was really fun. Everyone in the class is always helpful and friendly, and I hope people who join this class in the future will experience that as well. One of my favorite pieces was the looking back on 9/11 article because I think it helped me gain a lot of insight on the event and it was a really fun process.
Paul: One thing I loved about the DM team was how friendly this class was. Everyone was so inclusive and people were so nice. This friendly environment helped me write articles and contribute to the DM team in a comfortable environment. One of my favorite pieces we did was the news in 90 season 6 episode 2 because of the thumbnail and every one of my friends loved it and I personally enjoyed it as well. I hope the DM team will be creative as always and keep going on.