Hello, my name is Bea Todd and I am 16 years old, in the 11th grade and attend Listowel District Secondary School. This year, I am doing a two-credit co-operative education program here at the Listowel Banner.
I chose to do my credit here because I would like to go into the journalism field once I’m done with my secondary school education. My hope to become a journalist comes from my enjoyment of researching and storytelling.
In elementary school, at Howick Central, we did yearly speeches and I liked the opportunity to research a topic of my interest and report back my findings. Throughout school, I have been able to find my passion for storytelling. From made-up fiction stories that I have created, or reports on real people who have made massive impacts, I have always enjoyed creating material and sharing information. Outside of school, I participate in a fencing class in Stratford every Sunday. I enjoy watching my little sister’s hockey games along with watching the Toronto Maple Leafs, visiting with my extended family and even staying at home and reading a good book.
I currently do not have a part-time job, however in the previous summer, I assisted at a pool in the area, alongside my older sister.
When we returned to school last fall, we had two classes a day. This was still an adjustment for me because I had previously learned using the purely online school system that was available. Since then, we have recently started our second semester with four classes a day. This is my first time having four classes a day in about two years.
My electives (which I chose) this semester include the two-credit co-op, which gave me the opportunity to work at the Banner, and a biology class. My non-elective class is math. In the ninth and tenth grade, I chose to take nearly all the sciences available to me because I thought I wanted to be a nurse. I have now come to the conclusion that I want to go into journalism instead of the sciences due to my proficiency and enjoyment of my English classes and literature.
I am on route to taking many history and English-related subjects that will hopefully help me get to a four-year bachelor’s degree at a university of my choice.
Overall, I am very grateful for the chance to work at the Banner through my co-op course to try out and see what the career I would like to pursue in my future is like.
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Bea Todd is a co-op student at the Listowel Banner. Comments and feedback can be sent to co-op@midwesternnewspaper.com.
