Nikhil Behere

Students working diligently during an Honors Journalism class.

During senior year, there are many  different English classes that students can choose, including World Literature, Public Speaking, AP Literature and more.”

However, one class teaches writing skills better than the others: Journalism.

Often, students merely take a journalism course as a way to fulfill the graduation requirement of an English credit. But they soon learn just how nuanced the course is.

Iowa State sophomore Mukul Kulkarni took Honors Journalism and wrote for the Spartan Shield his senior year. “I took it because I wanted to learn how to write in detail about something in a short amount of time to help me become a better writer. I’ve learned how to work as a team and collaborate to push stories out in a very small time frame under pressure,” he said. 

Taking journalism has many benefits besides just becoming a better writer. It can also improve brain health. According to a study conducted by the University of Northern Illinois, “It has been demonstrated, across a variety of investigations, that writing activities yield a number of intellectual, physiological, and emotional benefits to individuals.” The study continued: “These benefits include improved memory function, decreased symptomatology, and greater feelings of happiness.” 

Over the course of Honors Journalism, students write 15 articles for the Spartan Shield Online and learn how  journalists write enticing articles at a fast pace. They also create podcasts, videos and other multimedia work.

According to Kulkarni, “I’ve learned how to write at a faster pace than before the journalism class, and be more particular about the details to better convey my message.”

During the class of Journalism, students learn the basics of journalistic writing by exploring media usage, writing news stories, understanding the fundamentals of electronic and print media and learning about biased news sources.

Josh Hansen is a student in Journalistic Writing and Media Literacy, and believes the class has benefited him. “I have learned more about journalism and am more confident in my writing skills because of this class,” Hansen said.

Through student accounts and research of the fundamentals of journalism, PVs journalism classes allow students to write about something they’re interested in while acquiring skills that will help them for the rest of their life.