{"id":855,"date":"2021-04-30T18:45:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T18:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/?p=855"},"modified":"2021-04-30T18:45:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T18:45:19","slug":"an-opportunity-ill-never-forget-and-a-family-i-never-knew-i-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/2021\/04\/30\/an-opportunity-ill-never-forget-and-a-family-i-never-knew-i-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"An opportunity I\u2019ll never forget and a family I never knew I needed"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I applied for NPR\u2019s Next Generation Radio, I thought it was a longshot. I\u2019ve done some audio work before, but I\u2019ve lived mostly in the print world. When I received my acceptance email, there was a wave of emotions: excitement, ambition and energy, certainly. But also, nerves.<\/span><\/p>\n

What if I don\u2019t know how to do anything? What if I mess up? What if I don\u2019t make a good impression? And most importantly, what if I don\u2019t do my story justice?<\/span><\/p>\n

From Day 1, the whole Next Gen team ensured I had the tools I needed to succeed. From the sound engineers to the digital editors, from the managing editor to the photographer, each person had so much expertise to impart. Team members were not only incredible professionals in their respective fields, but also exceptional, encouraging and patient educators. The training I received this week will be in my back pocket for the rest of my career.<\/span><\/p>\n

First and foremost, my mentor Nina has been amazing. She invested countless hours to make sure I succeeded. Not only has her help been remarkably instrumental, but I also feel like I\u2019ve made a friend. If I\u2019m ever in Salt Lake City, we\u2019re definitely grabbing dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Selena, the sound engineer, dropped nuggets of wisdom all week about audio editing, workflow and prioritizing mental health. Working with audio can be intimidating, but her approach resonated with me so much. Getting to socialize with her and the other team members at our mixer was one of the highlights of the week. This team is full of inspiring people.<\/span><\/p>\n

I met the photographer, Sam, at my source\u2019s business early in the morning of Day 2. She painstakingly took me through each shot. She showed me what worked and what didn\u2019t, how to adjust my camera to get high-quality pictures and to put myself physically in the best position to get that million-dollar photo. She made me comfortable working with a medium I\u2019d rarely used before, and I\u2019m confident I have a solid foundation of skills to build on.<\/span><\/p>\n

One moment of the week especially stood out to me. I used to be a teacher, and on Day 4, I received a message that one of my former students died in a car accident that morning. We were in the middle of final edits at the time, but I needed some time to grieve. Nina was so accommodating, patient and supportive. She was the reason diving back into the work didn\u2019t overwhelm me, but instead became an outlet to focus my energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only have I learned the ropes of radio this week, but through these mentors and experts, I\u2019ve also learned to know my worth, take care of myself and push through my self doubts. At the beginning of the week, I was a little skeptical when the Next Gen leaders said we were now a family. But now, I\u2019m a believer.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I applied for NPR\u2019s Next Generation Radio, I thought it was a longshot. I\u2019ve done some audio work before, but I\u2019ve lived mostly in the print world. When I received my acceptance email, there was a wave of emotions: excitement, ambition and energy, certainly. But also, nerves. What if I don\u2019t know how to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"coauthors":[21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okla.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}