Home for the Summer
From university to a summer job at the World-Spectator . . . but still learning!
June 10, 2024, 10:12 am
Ashley Bochek
I finished my last final Monday, April 29. After that, I packed everything to come back to Moosomin for the summer! I am so excited to have four months off and work full-time at the Spectator. Believe it or not, I find work more fun than school. Coming home felt exciting and comforting. I can take a break from the nonstop city rush and enjoy summer in our sweet and peaceful town.
My first year of university was mostly busy, but exciting. It went by insanely fast so I am hoping the next three years will be the same. When people say university is different than high school, they couldn’t be more right and now I understand why some say that.
I took five classes both semesters and found many assignments piling onto one another, but with a little bit of multitasking and an easy schedule, I found a great deal of my days were free to do as I wish. University is nothing like high school in the sense that you may be at school for only a few hours a day and then home for the rest. To be honest, I became bored sitting around at home when I had no classes. It gets old fast. You can only do so much cleaning and laundry before you have nothing to do other than an assignment or if I was ahead, then nothing at all. I found a lot of my time was sitting around and I did not like it. I have always liked to be busy and wanting to do something, so when the time came where I had hours of free time, I was simply bored.
However, this was not all the time, but about twice a week where my days were sitting around on the couch. In high school you are there from morning until 3 pm and then possibly sports practice after school or work and I began to miss my busy schedule I once had in high school.
While attending U of R, I also did some writing for the World-Spectator. I was able to interview over the phone, record on my laptop, and send in stories for the paper. I really enjoyed multitasking school with interviews and transcriptions. I found it a nice break from thinking, but rather just listening to people’s stories over the phone and creating their story.
I find work very exciting at the Spectator. I learn by writing factual and heart-warming stories diversifying my knowledge on all kinds of topics. I recently interviewed the Vice-President of Mosaic, Lawrence Berthelet, and he explained his occupation. I have never been interested in the mining industry before and didn’t know much about it, so that transcription was a little harder with trips back and forth to Kevin’s office asking what certain acronyms and mining terminology mean, but I learned so much about this important industry.
I have also interviewed Bill Thorn, Charlie Leslie, and Nancy Apshkrum on health-related stories about diseases people live with every day that I had heard of and knew a little bit about, but not nearly as much as I learned from listening to Bill, Charlie and Nancy’s stories.
I enjoy the interviewing process where I get to hear stories first-hand and learn about different occupations, professions, and stories of everyday life that you just don’t get to read out of a textbook in school or just don’t get to feel the emotional connection for.
I enjoy listening and being curious. You never get a certain time slot in life to just sit down with someone and ask questions. Journalism has taught me it is interesting to ask questions and be given answers from the heart for each and every story you write. I have learned I love talking to people.
I like to think partly why I like writing stories at the Spectator is because of the number of amazing stories there are to share in our community. There are exciting projects happening every week, and stories waiting to be told.
I enjoy meeting new people within Moosomin just because they have a story to share with the Spectator. I like sharing everyone’s stories because it is people I know, or people I just haven’t met yet that share their life stories with me to share with the rest of our community. It is easy to tell stories in a town where there are great things happening and great people confidently wanting to share theirs.
Although I am not taking journalism in university, it is a job where I can be curious and have my questions answered and people’s lives can be impacted. I have been debating on my university degree for some time and still am not sure what I really want to do, but as of right now I am not worried nor thinking about that because all I know is, I enjoy working at the World-Spectator with an amazing staff and learning from my experienced and kind bosses, Kevin and Kara, and of course interviewing and sharing our community’s stories. I know that for this summer I am working at the World-Spectator and I enjoy doing it.
My favourite part of this job is that every day is different. Each day there is a different story or multiple interviews sharing different ideas, experiences, and accomplishments. I have flown a drone, attended a Chamber meeting, and interviewed amazing people, from cabinet ministers to a First Nations Chief to the Hungarian Consul to Saskatchewan, to a Nepali journalist who has climbed Mount Everest, to the Hungarian Ambassador to Canada, and so many others with just as important stories, and that has only been over the last month. There is so much more time to meet amazing people.
Some days, I may even work on sales as well, take pictures around town, or be out somewhere in the area reporting. Everything is exciting when there is variety and I’m able to stay busy. I like to multi-task and keep myself busy throughout the day, so each day is short, but fun.
With school, I found every day felt very similar to the next with a class schedule and continuing to work on PowerPoints, notes, and assignments. It became old fast and I felt bored most of the time with every day feeling the same. At the Spectator, it doesn’t even compare.
Last week, I remember it was Friday and I had no idea where the week went—it had felt like it was Tuesday, but that to me is the best part—feeling accomplished and busy all while living each day exploring stories among our community.
Ashley Bochek is a World-Spectator employee and a university student.
