MY STORY:

• Utah hospital ensures stability for employees during COVID-19

MY BLOG:

For my enterprise story, I found it hard at first to even try to develop a story idea. My mind was so jumbled with ideas on what could be reportable and newsworthy to be able to be published that I could not think of the best idea to pitch. I started to collaborate with my family and friends to see what they thought could be an interesting story to do. I wanted it to be unique, but at the same time write something I knew I could report on.

My mom started talking about St. Mark’s Hospital and how I used to volunteer there for school; she said how it could be an interesting topic to ask how the hospital was aiding their own employees during the pandemic. There had been no articles on the U NewsWriting website and I knew that being able to highlight a different hospital would be an idea that readers would want to read. I thought it was an excellent idea and knew I could easily get most of the information from interviewing who I could from St. Mark’s. I had great ideas on who to talk to, but during a pandemic I was a little worried. I went on to ponder my sources and where I might get the information from.

Next, I started to research more on St. Mark’s Hospital and think about how I wanted to talk to other people not just at the hospital in Millcreek, Utah, but others in the surrounding hospitals owned by MountainStar Healthcare. I started looking up some employees online and had an email contact or a phone number that I could contact. I found one of my resources pretty easy since he is the vice president of human resources. I knew that he would be a great gateway into finding other sources to talk to for my article. This got me to get all of my resources from him and getting three other managers being impacted from the hospital’s resources and aid during the pandemic. It was also easy to find the website for MountainStar Healthcare and finding other information to make sure what they stated was clear. Locating my sources was not the most difficult part of my enterprise story.

I knew that my resources were definitely the best sources for my story since all of my sources are on the front lines of helping, seeing, and understanding the impact that St. Mark’s has given to its employees to ensure that they are not going to struggle every day. All of them were very helpful in the interview process of making sure that they answered all the questions I had and also giving me the concrete details to the story. I felt very confident in what they were answering for my story and was successful in writing a full story from the answers that I was able to get during this process. It was nice to be able to interview other frontline workers in the background for many stories. It was amazing to talk straight to the sources knowing they would give me exactly what I needed.

Going into the actual writing process, waiting to get emails back to interview, and making sure I knew exactly what my story was going to be about were just a few of the obstacles that I had during this process. Overall, I knew that eventually everything would work out, but at the time I was worried over all of these things and more. This is my first time ever writing something that is going to be published online and be a news article. Again, trying to interview during a pandemic with a hospital as my resource location was also difficult. I addressed them easily by talking to each source and making sure we did an interview that was comfortable to them and all of them were pretty quick and easy. Then being able to start writing felt pretty easy as well, I had lots of information that I wanted and needed, and I knew I would be able to come up with a professional story.

Given all of the information I gathered, I started to organize it and figure out if there were similarities and find the stuff that added great details to my story. I had to start thinking about my focus of the story; I felt that it was easy to see that I would break it up kind of into three parts around how St. Mark’s is aiding employees during a pandemic with mental, physical, and spiritual aid. There were details of other random things and events that St. Mark’s also has done for the employees, which I added at the end of the middle. I struggled at first figuring out the focus, but going back and finding the key pieces is how I got to finally writing this story and making sure I kept to a straight focus.

My writing process was pretty similar to how I usually write anything, but there were a few different things that I did that helped a lot with writing. When I first sit down to write, I usually try and get the format correct to what I am writing and then going into how to get the reader to read the story and keep an interest. I start going straight into how I feel the story will flow and keep on looking back on the information I have to make sure I am getting everything I need in a correct order. Then going back and reading over and over and having one of my family members look it over or a friend toward the end. This time however, I had my mom look over it when I was in the middle of writing it.

I was about halfway through when I felt that I couldn’t decipher if I was on a good track or not. Having my mom look it over and help me edit my writing helped me to feel confident that I was writing my story to the best of my ability. I learned that my craft is changing a little bit as I am writing more and more different types of stories. It is good to develop my skills and to ask for help when I am struggling which I used to hate. I am glad that I have been able to learn more about how I write and how to improve my writing.

I felt that I included a lot of my details and information that I got from my interviews into my story, but I didn’t totally include everyone’s feelings around the pandemic and how it has helped people in their departments, but more of a general analysis. I still feel that I got the best information in my writing and there was not much left out for interpretation, which I did not want to happen when reading my story. I was glad to get the information needed and extra for my story and I do not regret making sure all of my questions were answered and seen in my story. I think the only thing that changed was how I thought my story was going to be like, but I did not have a concrete story really in my mind, so it still worked out to a great article.

I was surprised by how the interview process was going to go with how some sources like to get straight to the point of the questions and others will talk about themselves and other details. Neither of these ideas are terrible, but I was surprised at the different techniques and how things just happen randomly during interviews. There is no real set idea that happens with those. I was surprised at how I felt very confident in writing my story and truly felt that I had skills that I did not even know I had. I was glad to have this opportunity to write a story that I truly feel proud of. I know that I still have a long way to go to become a more professional writer, but I felt that this story was a big stepping-stone on becoming a great writer and to be able to do this for a living. I would do this whole process over again just to experience the confidence I felt to write a story to publish for the first time. I hope to do more writing like this in the future.  

ABOUT ME:

I am a sophomore at the University of Utah working toward following my passion for photography, writing, and wanting to make an impact on the world.

Early on in my high school experience, I found a love of taking photos that led to my extracurricular time as the yearbook photo editor for two years. I enjoyed capturing moments whether on the turf of the football field to interviewing my local peers; I felt I was documenting history for those students during my high school career.

When I’m not taking photos or doing school, I enjoy my other interests in fashion, films, beauty care, meditation, and being a consumer of environmentally friendly products. I want to embark on life with truth, passion, and honesty.

My goal is to find a career that brings me joy while also inspiring others. Whether photography and writing become my career or is my weekend hobby, I hope my work will spark passion for others to do what they love.