As a freshman, I had no idea what I wanted to major in. All I knew for sure was that I loved to write. I wanted to try a Journalism class my second semester, but wasn’t sure which one. My advisor recommended a 3 credit class called J669: Literary Aspects of Journalism.
Within the first 10 minutes of lecture, I immediately realized that I was the youngest in the room. Feeling slightly intimidated, I went up to my professor—Robert Schwoch—after class to see if I should stick around or drop.
“Well, you’re currently the only freshman enrolled in this class, but I think if you’re willing to work hard you could succeed,” professor Schwoch told me. I left the class wondering what I should do, but ultimately decided to give it a chance.
J669 ended up being the most rewarding, enjoyable class that I have taken at UW-Madison so far. The content was fascinating as well as the professor, and the class size was not too big or too small (roughly 75 students).
Not only did I discover some of my new favorite authors, but I realized that no one should ever shy away from something simply because of age. If I hadn’t taken this class, it could have taken much longer for me to realize that I wanted to pursue a major in the Journalism school. Thus, I recommend this class to every freshman that is willing to take a risk for a big reward!
