{"id":11998,"date":"2021-02-12T12:55:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T17:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/?p=11998"},"modified":"2021-02-12T12:55:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T17:55:50","slug":"learning-with-perspective-hope-mckinney-21-on-going-back-to-school-in-her-twenties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/news\/learning-with-perspective-hope-mckinney-21-on-going-back-to-school-in-her-twenties\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning with Perspective: Hope McKinney ’21 on Going Back to School in her Twenties"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the age of 23, Hope McKinney was at a crossroads on what she wanted to do with her life. After taking classes at a community college near her hometown in South Windsor, Connecticut, McKinney was looking for a change. \u201cI felt stagnant and desperately needed a sense of direction,\u201d McKinney says, reflecting on her decision to move to Rhode Island. “I applied to URI and picked <\/span>journalism<\/span><\/a> as my major, solely because I loved writing and felt I could possibly create a career out of it,” she says. “As soon as I started my journalism classes, I knew I made the right choice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During her time as a journalism major, McKinney says many professors have inspired and influenced her as a student; however, she mentions Professor <\/span>John Pantalone <\/span><\/a>as being especially influential. \u201cI melded incredibly well with the way Professor Pantalone taught. He\u2019s not afraid to destroy your work with correction marks and criticize you to your face in front of others. That makes him sound terrifying, but it isn\u2019t. He\u2019s the definition of tough love,” McKinney says. It was through this rapport with Professor Pantalone that McKinney was able to find her first journalism internship at the <\/span>East Greenwich News. <\/span><\/i><\/a>The internship <\/span>proved to be an amazing opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the journalism field. Working alongside editor Elizabeth McNamara, McKinney was challenged to write about topics she was not previously used to, and this experience solidified her desire to continue a career in journalism. \u201cMy favorite part of interning at <\/span>EG News<\/span><\/i><\/a> was getting to write about intimate and significant stories from 2020,” she says. “Every person\u2019s world was shifted due to COVID-19 and the burst of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was an honor to write about the variety of experiences people had\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

McKinney says that her dedication to improving as a student and journalist is largely due to pursuing a career path a little later than others. \u201cPicking my major and going back to school at an older age was the best decision I made. At 23, I had much more of a handle on my life goals and knew I was fully prepared and dedicated to my major. All the different avenues I attempted beforehand led me to that point, and I appreciated the education I was getting in a way I couldn\u2019t have when I was 18,” she says. She is plans to<\/span> graduate in the spring of 2021 and, inspired by her time with the <\/span>EG News, says <\/span>her dream job would be \u201cfreelance writing about film, any form of art and intimate stories about \u2018ordinary\u2019 people.\u201d <\/span>As for advice for prospective students looking to study journalism, McKinney says passion is key. \u201cHold onto your fire. Even when someone inevitably looks at you with a sympathetic gaze for diving into a career field that seems to be currently set aflame, you\u2019re going to change the world, and that\u2019s always worthwhile\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out McKinney\u2019s personal website <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also check out some of McKinney\u2019s work for <\/span>East Greenwich News:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

https:\/\/eastgreenwichnews.com\/thousands-gather-in-providence-in-support-of-black-lives\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/eastgreenwichnews.com\/a-shining-star-for-a-hidden-community\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/eastgreenwichnews.com\/mr-bob-a-silver-lining-during-covid\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

~ Written by Taylor Petrini, English Major, URI Class of 2021<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hope McKinney ’21 discusses how going back to college in her twenties made her appreciate education more, and how an internship solidified her passion for journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":12001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[73,79],"class_list":["post-11998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-harrington-school-of-communication-and-media","tag-journalism"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1089"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11998"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12007,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11998\/revisions\/12007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}