Time to take charge!

Most of us are now suffering from late 2nd semester burnout. As the academic year winds down, the pressure of big assignments and greater expectations is on.

In the midst of all that, many of us realize that the upcoming summer - the 2nd of our program - is our breaking in point. That's our window of opportunity for really getting something going if we're to have any hope in journalism immediately after graduation.

So we've fired off applications, made calls, and nagged. If we were lucky, we got an interview, or two, or three.

But except for a handful or so, most of us got a rejection or two (yeah, there were three as well).

Now, as the summer approaches, most of us don't know what we're going to be doing. We'll probably keep trying until it dawns upon us that we have no hope whatsoever and that's when we'll head out and catch on to any menial job we can find.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

We just keep trying the conventional methods and just doing things the way they've always been done.

We need to think outside the proverbial box.

My fellow concerned wanna-be pros, listen up! If they don't think we're good enough, then let's prove otherwise. We know we're a hardworking, creative bunch, plus we're the demographic they need to appeal to (if not now, then eventually).

If they aren't going to hire us, let's show them why they've made a mistake.

I've got a plan. It won't be easy, but believe me, it'll be fun and worth all the trouble. If we want to make it work. (Not just "I," but "we.")

Just watch.

Who knows where it might take us. Heck, we might not even be the ones doing the calling next year.