WJI Blog 2022, June 3 AM - Last Day

I can’t believe it’s over.

On May 20^th, I pulled into the parking lot at Dordt expecting to spend the next two weeks dying a horrifyingly painful death at the hands of journalism. With 15 days of WJI looming ahead, I was terrified, and it didn’t feel like we’d ever be at the end. But here we are, we made it, and now I don’t want to say goodbye.

I’ve been in the radio broadcast track, so this morning, I spent an hour working with an editor on my script before recording my podcast voiceover. The media lab was packed—all of us in the broadcast track were frantically trying to pull together our pieces for the 4:30 p.m. showcase.

I managed to survive the first 14 days of WJI with zero emotional breakdowns, but alas, today I broke that streak. My audio piece was majorly stressing me out, so I went outside and sat down in the grass under a tree. It really was beautiful out—sunny, breezy, and 70 degrees. It took a little while, but I eventually decided that the world was NOT ending, and I could go in and finish editing my piece. I somehow ended up with dirt from the tree all over my arms, but ah well, it added to the experience.

Before lunch, we all headed in to the final “Pitts’ P’s” lecture. I’m going to miss those—Lee Pitts tells best stories. We are now all very sad that Taco Cid is permanently closed.

Dinner felt so strange…our last meal in the dining hall! They still had ice cream left from the Memorial Day BBQ though, so I’m going to count that as a win.

Around 7:00 p.m., we split into two groups and got to watch/listen to each other’s pieces. I loved getting to see what everyone had been working on all week, but there’s definitely still a special place in my heart for radio.

After a final wrap up where we all got certificates and t-shirts, we piled into the Dordt vans one last time. “PARTY AT PITTS’” was the last official event of WJI. We played games, baked cookies, and Adel found a really creepy doll.

I couldn’t have asked for a better end to an incredible two weeks…it’s just too bad we can’t come back and do it all again next year.

~Leah Johansen