I am currently studying mass communications with a concentration in journalism at East Tennessee State University. I am also minoring in political science. WHAT MADE ME INTERESTED IN JOURNALISMDuring my first year out of high school I worked as a raft guide in the small town of Hartford, TN. During this time I was exposed to many different types of people from many different places around the world. Everyday was an adventure, not because of the fact I was guiding rafts down a class 4 river, but because I had to gain the trust of a group of people within the first 15 minutes of meeting them. With this kind of pressure, I quickly learned how to talk to people and find common ground.I soon realized that I liked meeting all these new people. I loved breaking the ice with them and learning about who they were and where they were coming from. But, like every summer job I couldn't do it forever. So I told myself that I would pursue a career that would allow me to meet people and tell their story. That is when I decided to pursue a career in journalism. I felt that I had the perfect skills for the job, such as the ability to get someone to talk to me about anything and the gift to find something interesting in everyone's story.