PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Saugus High School junior Josh Whiting gets to interview Item reporter Bridget Turcotte.
BY JOSHUA WHITING
SAUGUS — When I was given the chance to participate in Shadow Day, I took the opportunity to see what careers would interest me.
While filling out the application, I focused on writing and working in the communications field.
In truth, the idea of shadowing a reporter was not the most enticing. I had previously taken a journalism class, which was not one of my best experiences. But when I met The Daily Item’s Bridget Turcotte, I made the most of the opportunity.
Turcotte was very insightful about her career. She answered all my questions about the difficult business that journalism can be. She instantly got my feet wet by having a quick interview with Michael Hashem, acting superintendent of the Saugus Public Schools.
Hashem expressed how valuable this day is for participants. He called it a meaningful experience that unites students.
Nobody is more experienced with Shadow Day than Laurie Golan. She has organized the event for the past two decades. It is her final year of teaching mathematics at the high school.
Golan said the program works because it’s an experience students can’t get in the classroom. Over the years, many students who have participated in Shadow Day have told her that the experience helped them figure out how they wanted to spend a career.
As the day continued, being Turcotte’s shadow became increasingly more interesting.
We visited J. Pace & Son, interviewed other participants and asked them about how their experience was going.
“I’m having fun,” said Kristen Barry as she organized pastries.
Next, at the Saugus Fire Department, we met firefighters who were training with a mobile unit. We met Bill Cross, a firefighter who has participated in Shadow Day for several years. Cross said that the program is important because it shows high school students different career paths.
Next, we met with students who shadowed with the Saugus Police Department. Chief Domenic DiMella, now in his eighth year of mentoring students, said every year he meets students who want to become police officers.
Joseph DiVola, a junior, said he never considered a career as a police officer, but is now interested. His example demonstrates how important this day is to students, by opening up options.
It also brought Max Hunt, a junior, closer to the field that he has always wanted to pursue.
“I still want to be a police officer,” he said.
Later, I visited The Item’s newsroom, where I was asked to write a story about my experience. This has been one of the most influential experiences that I have had in my life. I was shown the ropes of journalism by a fantastic reporter.
I learned a lot in a very short amount of time and my understanding of the media has changed, from negative to positive. My answer to the daunting question of “what do you want to do with your life?” is now that I want to become a reporter.
Joshua Whiting is a junior at Saugus High School. Whiting shadowed Item reporter Bridget Turcotte for the school’s Shadow Day.