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A Retrospective Personal Essay from my High School AP Classes and College Enrollment it talks about how I journeyed through broadcasting
BY: Wesley Alexainder Angel Star
I remember on the day that brought about my awakening. A new journey was beginning for me and how much of a change that was about to occur I was prepared for. It started off like any other day, the sun rose there, was traffic on the streets and I was on the way to school. School back in this time I was online with TCAH. But what happened on this day was my one dream that finally came true. Setting the stage for my future that I am preparing for currently. The day was beautiful it’s like it was made for me but sometimes things do go terribly wrong. The learning experience from this event brought me more confidence to do new things and live out my dream in full detail. I was taught how to be more me and straightforward when it comes to reaching and achieving a goal.
On this glorious day I was preparing to audition for the Broadcast club to become the new main weatherman for the school. This was my first year with TCAH so I was nervous, but I remembered this is something that I love to do, and no one can stop me from my dreams unless it was me. As the club auditions were starting there were other students who were auditioning for the same role and I thought to myself “These guys are better than me, they’ll likely get the main weather role for the school.” As I sat in the virtual room, I began to look at my computer with all the hard work and weather graphics along with research projects that I have done and began to look with excitement. At the same time, I was feeling like the competition was much better than me and that Mrs. Lisa and Mrs. Brown wouldn’t dare pick me, because my public speaking at the time wasn’t the best. I loved doing weather reports with either my own personal drawings or weather maps and the seven-day forecast which is very vintage of me. I also learned how to create graphics using the Adobe Suite such as Photoshop and Illustrator and implementing those elements into an edible PowerPoint presentation that is identical to a television meteorologist. All this hard work was building up to the moment of my audition, and it made me feel that I had even more of an edge against the others.
In the waiting room I could hear more good auditions taking place for the head of the broadcast clubs weather department. Three more students came in with awesome auditions and Mrs. Brown said the head decision at that moment was very close, but a decision was not made yet due to more auditions. I still believed I had an edge though due to me having drawing graphics and having the computer graphics at which were identical to the professional systems. Mrs. Lisa called “Johnathan Mitchell”, at last it was my time to audition. Yes, I was nervous but the pounding my heart was doing told me just to do what I was made to do which was a weather report and make the most accurate forecast you can. This is your moment to shine and get what you deserve. The shallowness in the breakout room could be felt from both teachers as they said, “Begin when you are ready and don’t rush it.” I felt in my heart to sound as professional as I can as fast as I can. I removed that statement from my head as bells began to ring as I was reminded of something my Pop would say and that is “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” I didn’t want to ruin my shot given there was a lot of competition for the lead role. I began with using the drawn graphics I made to show off that I am talented enough to draw weather maps before using the computers graphics system to generate them. So, thinking ahead if the team is experiencing issues with one of the computers systems, they could revert to the backup system or use the drawn maps which would be very nostalgic to the teachers. The teachers loved me and said my public speaking was amazing. This began a new turning point in my weather journey since I was the last audition for the role.
The wait period began and all I did was wait and wait and wait more until the news came in on what the new roles where for the broadcast club. Once I received the email of the new roles, I didn’t open it on the first day. I wanted some suspense built around before I did open the email because it was either going to be a moment of glory or nothing that would help me or change me for the future. I kept procrastinating until about three weeks later I opened the 5th notice that I received related to the roles of the 2017-2018 school year. And much to my surprise I was the Chief Weather Officer of the broadcast club now. I said to myself I need to learn how to stop procrastinating and learn to open the important letter rather it’ll be good, bad, or ugly. I was the youngest and not only that I was also the Head Weather Producer related to our computer weather graphics systems that the individual team members would use for their respective weather forecasts throughout the day. This moment changed my life for the better as I became one of the most important people and Gems for the school. I tracked Hurricane Harvey in 2017 which led to us starting school in September and this is the same year Pearson Online Schools began the CASM division (Connections Academy Science and Meteorology) which I was very much so proud to be apart of for a short period of time.
Dreams come true if you have the right turning point in your life. This experience has taught me that you can reach for the stars if you put your mind to it no matter if you think you are flawed. The confidence grows inside of you no matter what the outcome is. This experience is something that was just the beginning of my dream in the making as I will be going to college for Investigative Journalism and Meteorology which will continue this dream that started right here which I was in the seventh grade. The words of my grandpa stick with me “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” These words helped me change everything in my life forever and for the better.
