Personal Essays and Making Predictions: Friday, May 24, 2024

By Katie Northcott from Patrick Henry College

Les Sillars picked up talking about personal essays after lunch, showing us an essay his student had written during the fall semester. After the essay, he sent us into the wild of the Dordt campus and gave us an hour to write a 300-word essay. Row by row, students approached the podium to read our essays. Students wrote everything from anecdotes about destroying old microwaves to dealing with family hardship. Our emotions ranged from laughter to tears. In the end, Sillars read letters he wrote to his father as an example of his own work with essays. Under the fluorescent lighting, many faces glistened with tears. As we concluded the essay portion of the day, we realized that we had gained respect and understanding for one another. From this emotional environment, we divided into editing pods to review our video projects.

After dinner, we played a game in the news huddle and then spent time asking Lee Pitts, Myrna Brown, and Les Sillars about their experience as reporters. We came back to the dorm and worked in our groups as needed to prepare for our field reporting projects that we will execute tomorrow.

The evening finds us researching cheese mites and playing Paranoia. Through the game, we have answered important questions. Who would have survived the Titanic? Who is most likely to be a celebrity in disguise?

A question yet to be answered: will we go to bed at a reasonable hour to be at our best for field reporting tomorrow? Feel free to make your predictions.