When Jasmine Kripalani, a Journalist, came to speak to our Intro to Journalism class, on the morning of Monday, June 6, 2011, I didn’t really know what to think about it, at first. Then I figured that this would be another success story regurgitated for the next two hours. But as she spoke, there was more to what she was conveying about her. She spoke about her experiences and I felt that it wasn’t just about her. I felt that she truly wanted to give us some tools of what to expect and how to handle it, authentically in intent.
She communicated that we can challenge ourselves now, as students, to write for different mediums. And that the only thing that can stop the ambition is the lack of persistence and positive thinking. As she was speaking, I felt a sense of reality coming over me that, if I wanted to, if I really felt the desire, that I can start writing for different papers now, at this moment, professionally. The impression that she made on me, is that she is an extremely dedicated and hardworking journalist, that whatever the ambiguity or uncertainty, she remains level headed and positive.
Jasmine Kripalani spoke to me inside, which doesn’t happen a lot when guest speakers arrive to speak to college students. Her message was that my career as a writer has started the minute I decided to write and that the walls of not having a degree cannot stop you from pursuing ambitious endeavors. And if in words, I had to describe what it meant for her to speak to our class or what I got from it, it is this message that has resonated, that I can pursue journalism professionally, in my life, right now, as a student.
picture of jasmine Kripalani provided by Facebook
Written by Jean D. Bouciquot
