THE BEGINNING OF A WISE PROGRAM…THE BEGINNING OF A WISE PROJECT…THE BEGINNING OF A CAREER

What is it like to get into something at the very beginning of its existence, to be a pioneer? Ask Jamie Beckett White, who heard about WISE when she was a junior before the program had even begun at her high school, Broward County’s Hollywood Hills High School back in 1996.

A New WISE Program Attracts An Aspiring Writer                                                                   It was in her 11th grade high school English class that Jamie learned about this new program starting senior year. Jamie loved to write, had taken a journalism class in 10th grade and was now working on the yearbook in 11th. WISE, she heard, would give her a chance to do a project or an internship in a field that she really wanted to learn about. She was immediately struck with the idea that this might be an opportunity to immerse herself in those activities that she had already begun to explore in her school classes and activities (writing, reporting, layout), all of which were directly related to journalism and a potential writing career. But she wasn’t sure exactly how that would pan out.

An Internship Opportunity through WISE                                                                   Senior year arrived and the WISE program began. She soon found out that she would have to realign her class schedule to take advantage of the new WISE classes, offered at the end of the day. The WISE schedule consisted of four classes in the morning, then the last two WISE classes at the end of the day, English and social studies. When the second half of the school year arrived, students in the WISE English and Social Studies classes were ready to launch themselves into their projects, in Jamie’s case an internship at the Miami Herald!

How did she get that incredible internship? Thanks to her mentor, journalism teacher and WISE English teacher, Paula M. Kirifides. Paula took Jamie’s interest in journalism seriously and knew that she was someone who could be trusted to represent the fledgling program in the workplace. So she called around, looking for a placement, and the Miami Herald responded.

So for the second half of the year, Jamie went to school in the morning, then left after a half day and went to work at the Herald. What did she do? A little bit of this, a little bit of that…all grist to any internship mill. She typed up lists of honor roll students; she transcribed and organized stacks of answering machine messages; and as she proved herself got to write stories: some feel good stories, some others, but stories with a byline!

A WISE Introduction to a Career                                                                                          It was all wonderful, even dealing with some of the less than exciting chores that came with the territory. Being in a professional environment; seeing a newsroom as it actually was (not as she had imagined, a hornet’s nest of wild, frenetic activity), a well-organized, purposeful place where people worked together, pooling their talents to produce a daily newspaper on schedule; getting a chance to do a little bit of everything and thus experiencing the full gamut of a newspaper job was the most stimulating thing she could possibly have done. Doing a WISE project was something totally new — and because it was something she was totally interested in pursuing, far more educational than staying in the same old classes for the last few months of her senior year. It launched her into her future, a future that was to include the study of journalism, working on the literary magazine and the newspaper in college, becoming editor of both in college and turning into the free-lance writer, copy-editor and proof-reader that she is today.

Mentor Keeps Everything On Course                                                                           Some WISE projects contain reverses, bumps in the road that the WISE student has to navigate as he or she makes his or her way through the project. Not so for Jamie. Even the tedious assignments were instructive and she sailed through her project with little difficulty. Her mentor, Paula Kirifides, was, of course, a great help. Not only did she help her secure the internship, but met with her each week to discuss her journal, talk about her project and the research into journalism that she was doing, and generally keep her on track. By the end of May, when she gave her presentation – on her birthday! – it was all over, but, quite obviously, it was also just the beginning — of what turned into a wonderful career for Jamie.

The Greatest Challenge                                                                                                 

There was one thing, however, that she dreaded: the presentation which pushed her way outside of her comfort zone. Here again, her mentor helped her calm down and deal with it. She ended up creating a display board that showed her audience the various things she had done, she distributed photocopies of the articles she wrote and talked about her experiences. It turned out just fine.

Looking back on the WISE process today, she said that the program was perfect just the way it was. It worked, it kept all the WISE students on track, it allowed them to explore the areas that they genuinely were interested in and it gave them focus that they otherwise might have lost in the waning days of high school. She looks forward to helping Hollywood Hills students as they wend their way through a WISE program now in its 21^st year by attending and helping to evaluate presentations. This will give her the opportunity to work with Paula Kirifides who is still mentoring new WISE students at Hollywood Hills. As for advice for those current WISE students: avoid procrastination If you are last minute person, keep up with it, keep on top of it, and enjoy!