The Journalist That Could

"Dream job? It changes every day. I would say that my dream job would be secret agent, but seeing as I have clown red hair, I don't think I would make a very good sneaky spy. So as of today my dream job would be doing something that matters in the world and changes lives for the better, while being a published author of course. Running my own non-profit, being an ambassador for a disadvantaged country, reporting on crimes against humanity- especially injustices occurring against women. Dream, dream, dream job would be to find a way to stop human sex trafficking world wide. It might be with a gun or it might be with making the issue more visible and people more aware." -Rebecca Copeland

I met Becca the day I was born; we've been best friends ever since. Our dads met in the navy, and then our moms became best friends. We've lived in the same neighborhood for most of our lives. When it came time for her to go to college (she's a year older than me), she decided to attend Suffolk University in the heart of Boston. This past May, Becca graduated with a major in print journalism and a double minor in english and government.

This incredible girl's first internship was at Mom Central Consulting. During her time there, she did editing for their online content, wrote press releases, and interviewed various people (including Steve Carell) relating to content on the website. Her next (and most recent) internship was at a print based PR firm that sets out to get socially responsible organizations and companies in the press called Teak Media Communications. She did a lot more at Teak than she did at Mom Central. This time around, her job included interviews, writing and personalizing press releases, taking to reporters, finding interesting stories within the organizations that Teak represented to pitch to reporters, and pitching directly to reporters.

At this point in time, recent graduates don't have many options once they receive their Bachelor's Degree. Getting a job in one's field is virtually unheard of these days for those who are fresh out of college. Most of the graduates I know end up going right back to a life of academia at graduate school. Others end up moving back in with their parents. Becca is one of those rare people who get everything they desire. A few things were handed to her on a silver platter, but not many. She works incredibly hard, but so do tons of other people who never get what they want. She's memorable, extremely intelligent, personable, hard working, charismatic, and lucky. Don't get me wrong, she's had a couple of pretty serious bumps in the road, but she is still truly lucky. Things just happen to work out for her, so she felt confident in graduating from Suffolk, staying in her apartment in the north end of Boston, and pursuing a career in journalism.

Imagine her surprise when she couldn't find a job... When I decided to write about her, I asked her what jobs she applied for in one of our weekly emails. This is what she said:

"WHAT JOBS HAVEN'T I APPLIED FOR? That would be a much shorter list. For example, I haven't applied for restaurant jobs or jobs involving adding and subtracting sums. That's about it. I have applied for every other job. I literally cannot remember them all. A lot of jobs with universities involving their admissions offices and writing centers, a lot of copy editing positions, and a lot of marketing positions with a heavy focus on writing."

It was looking like Becca might be forced to move back home for a while, but just as I had expected, she recently got some very good news. In the last week of November, Rebecca will begin her training for AmeriCorps. During her year of service with them she'll be working with WriteBoston: the only organization working with Boston Public Schools (BPS) that improves student writing through in-depth  teacher training across content areas such as English, math, science and history. It was founded in 2002 in response to students' poor performance on the writing section of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. When I asked her what her job entailed, she sent me quite the list:

"Serve as a member of the WriteBoston team and attend weekly meetings; maintain WriteBoston and Teens in Print's websites and other social media accounts to increase visibility in the community; produce bi-monthly newsletter and one-time email campaigns to reach partners, volunteers, and other readers; collaborate with Development Associate on various grants and writing projects; assist in the development and implementation of WriteBoston's new marketing strategy, which will result from new evaluation reports and documentation; develop new press packets and marketing materials for new logo presentations; create contact management protocol to better refine and target particular groups and audiences; assist in event planning and create display materials and Power Point presentations for various fundraisers."

Becca was a little hesitant to take the job at first because she feared that it didn't have enough to do with journalism, but now she's feeling really good about it. Even when everyone else thought that she might have to move home, I knew that it wouldn't happen. It's Rebecca Flipping Copeland! Things always end up working in her favor. I've probably made it all too obvious that I am in fact jealous of her. I'm not the type to cry woe is me, but let the record show that luck is not a friend of mine. Things don't happen for me the way they happen for her, so it's only natural for me to be jealous. But more important than my jealousy is that I'm so proud of her. She's living her life the way she said she would, and she's doing it without any help.

I hope that I can find a way to follow in her footsteps once I graduate.