Ignore the naysayers: Change brings new opportunity

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="321"] mashable.com[/caption] As college students on the Setonian Editorial Board, many of us journalism majors, we are constantly being told we are going into a dying field. Our majors will probably never make it into a spot on the top ten list for the most lucrative career path, or the best return for your investment in education, or the best field to get into at the current moment, or… we get it. Actually, Career Cast’s most recent Job Rating Report for 2016 puts print journalism in dead last at number 200, after lumberjack. Considering this information, it would probably be better for all of us to drop our weekly paper production and pursue a career in logging. Try and tell that to someone on this staff, I dare you. We scoff at the naysayers and the constant reports of a dismal outlook for journalism. We’ve ignored the cynics of the past questioning the future of media and we’ve challenged the critics of our craft. The proof? No one is forcing us to come to the University Center every Monday and Wednesday evening for what collectively amounts to at least 10 hours. No one is mapping out our publication or planning our stories for us. These 16 pages of content are produced from scratch every week after hours of reporting, writing, designing, collaborating and editing. The satisfaction of providing information, a voice to a community in a publication every week is what drives us. There is an organic passion within all of us that existed before people began to doubt our path, and it will continue to exist as doubt continues. We are not alone in this struggle, so many young college students are being told their industry is changing and their skills have an expiration date. We encourage those who are faced with the challengers and the doubters to remember the passion that helped shape who you are today. Similarly to how we are driven to create a newspaper, everyone has an internal motivation propelling them to a desired end goal. Just because an industry is changing, doesn’t mean it is dying. Things are always changing, in fact, it is probably impossible to recall a time in which an industry remained completely the same for an extended period. People who warn about change are afraid of change. People who welcome new opportunities are allies in fueling your passions. As graduation approaches, this message is particularly relevant to the senior class. Don’t be discouraged by others before you even begin your career. Skills can extend across many platforms and passion does not expire. Where there are people eager to pursue opportunities, there will always be opportunities. On behalf of The Setonian, we thank you for your time with us this year. The paper is set to return with the Orientation issue in June.