After I turn in a couple papers over the weekend, I will officially be done my first semester as a graduate student! I can’t say it wasn’t hard, and downright frustrating at times, but this is grad school, and it’s what I’ve come to expect.
Despite some tough times this semester, I am happy to be studying journalism and telling the public about environmental issues. This semester, I wrote several stories, some published and some not. The topics included a profile of a restoration ecologist in Missoula, a trend story about snowmobilers and skiiers getting caught in avalanches, an investigative piece about the safety of using compost on your garden, and a reportage story about a local wildlife refuge and their attempts to create a dry plant collection. As you can see, these stories are diverse!
Despite not getting as many stories published as I wanted to, I had to continually remind myself that I am still learning to be a journalist, and next semester, when I take feature writing, I have the chance to get more published!
So, what is next for me? If you don’t know, I’m headed to the AGU Fall Meeting for two presentations next week, which I will blog about (if you are interested, check out last year’s posts). After that, I am heading to Death Valley California where I will hike and enjoy hot springs pools before coming back to Missoula.
Enjoy your break from school, and if you don’t have one, read my blog next week about AGU!
Abbey Dufoe 