Career Day at St. Sylvester's in Brentwood

Feb. 1 was a fitting day to talk about being a journalist with potential future writers at St. Sylvester School in Brentwood Borough ... unfortunately. A in offered recent, firsthand experience of a tough day on the job for this writer.

Students from grades 4-8 came to my assigned classroom to hear me tell them that, while I would rather write about local businesses, sports and feel-good stories from in and around Baldwin-Whitehall, stories like Wednesday's accident—which caused some St. Sylvester buses to be stuck in heavy traffic that morning—are just as, if not even more, important to local readers.

I was careful not to be unpleasant with the young students, but covering the incident just hours before Career Day presentations gave me the chance to tell them exactly what it's like to be an everyday journalist: There are fun stories, and there are not-so-fun stories. Either way, good storytelling, professionalism and the facts—the proverbial Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why? and How?—are always key.

Also fresh in my mind that day was how to best use the tools of my job: my camera, voice recorder, notepad, press credentials, police scanner and even yellow safety jacket, which shows, at a bad traffic accident and/or a crime scene, that "I'm there to work."

I spoke to around seven groups of students for about 15 minutes each. Including transition time, I was at St. Sylvester's for about two hours and chatted with children from all around Pittsburgh's South Hills area—including plenty from Brentwood, Baldwin and boroughs.

Students from each group had excellent questions, such as, "What's been your favorite story?" and "Is it hard to interview people?"

The students also heard from a police detective, medical workers and about a half-dozen other professionals on Wednesday. Each presenter talked about the proper skills, tools and educational background needed to do his or her job.

I discussed what it takes to be a journalist in today's 24/7 news cycle: essentially, being as fast as possible but with as much detail as possible and without mistakes.

It was fun to be able to talk with kids, especially about what I do for a living and about what types of people that I encounter day to day. I also enjoyed talking about my education and hearing that some of the students were interested in being reporters someday.

I even got to pose for a picture taken by a reporter from the St. Sylvester student newspaper. Every now and then, it's fun to be on the other side of the news.

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