MY STORY:

• How has remote education affected some University of Utah students?

MY BLOG:

Hello everybody, I am Matthew Grant and I have been working on a story regarding the pandemic and the implications it has caused on your education. With that question, I have conducted a few interviews to see where students stand on the current pandemic, and if they think they are receiving a fair education when universities have changed so much to work around such. 

When I was first tasked with this project I originally had a completely different idea; but admittedly I overestimated myself and struggled to find applicable and accessible sources. With that being said I went with a more convenient topic and something that I felt would correlate well to my surroundings and the University of Utah. 

I reached out to an original source through a list of people that I was in a class with. I had liked their responses on prior assignments and thought they would be an interesting choice. I found another source through a co-worker who had been talking about the implications with COVID-19 and an education — which conveniently was exactly what I was looking for. My final source was someone who I had met when I was going through the study abroad process — unfortunately I was unable to go but was capable of reaching out to him because of so. 

I believed they were the best for my story because they were all very diverse from one another and were at completely different spots in their education and ultimately lives. I was a bit worried I may step on some people’s toes with a controversial take or question. Fortunately I found middle ground with all my sources and ultimately agreed with almost everything they had to say. 

Obviously I couldn’t go out and about to find sources like I may have been able to had a pandemic not been prevalent. However, I was able to reach out to my sources via cell phone and eventually FaceTime. I found people were busier than normal because of problems that the pandemic had imposed on people’s lives. With that being said, It was tough to find times that would work for the two of us to FaceTime and what not. All in all we just had to schedule and reschedule a few times before it all worked out. 

This has been my first real reporting process and it has been both fun and challenging. There is so much information to be asked and gathered that it can at times be overwhelming to keep up with your sources and the incoming information. I think that was the part I struggled most with and that I found noticeable in my story. I found that I would waver back and forth between certain points and it would sometimes differ from my original thesis or questions. So with that being said I tried to stay consistent with my questions and loop back around to the original focus.

Through and through the entire process has been exciting. It is interesting to see the information come to actual fruition and compare the different sources. Though it has also been tough in the way to make it sound like a story and not just reciting the information that I gathered. 

ABOUT ME:

Matthew Grant was born and raised in sunny San Diego until moving to Park City, Utah, at the age of 8. Promptly following his family’s move to Utah, Matt immediately fell in love with the sport of snowboarding.

From the age of 8 to 17, Matt devoted an essential amount of time to his snowboarding career. In fact, Matt received a reformed school schedule in order to have the winters off to pursue and meet the travel needs that came with his competitive snowboarding path.

Snowboarding taught Matt invaluable lessons on and off the snow. Whether it was indulging in foreign cultures while traveling abroad, or simply learning how to accept a loss with his head held high, these lessons will continue to shape him into the virtuous character he is today. 

Matt’s life took an unprecedented turn when deciding to come to college and ultimately at the University of Utah. It was the first time since the seventh grade that he had been back in a classroom with other academic peers — and that was far from the beginning.

While cliff jumping in Lake Powell during the fall of his freshman semester, Matt had a freak accident resulting in an erupted aorta artery (the aorta is the main artery that carries blood away from your heart to the rest of your body). This left Matt in critical condition, requiring him to be transferred to three different hospitals via four separate life flights. Amazingly enough, from the heroic friends and doctors at the University of Utah, Matt was coined a “miracle” and fortunately woke up with no further complications.

Since that accident in 2017, Matt has continued to study his education at the University of Utah where he is currently studying communication with an emphasis in journalism.

In addition to his full time school schedule, Matt also works as a construction worker under his dad’s company. What started as a necessity for money, has now turned into an indispensable trade and love that he hopes to put forth in later endeavors. 

In Matt’s free time, he enjoys the outdoors as much as anyone, constantly planning the next trip and seizing every ounce of daylight that comes with each day. He continues to snowboard as much as he can, while also becoming an avid golfer and motorcycle rider. 

His love for the outdoors and sports world can be seen outside of his physical capabilities — regularly spending time reading, writing, and sharing all things sports and media related. 

Matt acknowledges his fortunes, and is a firm believer that he has done, and seen more in 21 years than most will get to do in a lifetime. Through these experiences he has developed invaluable lessons and characteristics that will be indispensable to his educational and professional career moving forward.