Shapiro Take Away - Alexandra Mahon

I was most impressed by Taylor’s ultimately optimistic approach to all of his career endeavors.  He made a hopeful journalist’s nightmare of writing obituaries in a local paper into a search for finding the lost story behind everyone’s name.  Being able to write one of a kind stories (that just happened to be obituaries) about snack inventors or cold war veterans not only made him love his job but they got him noticed.  His passion for turning the mundane into something interesting or radical really stuck with me, especially when he spoke from the perspective of a confused and unsure college student.  Taylor’s message to me was this: what’s not important is knowing what you want to do but rather doing whatever it is well, with passion and brazen self-assurance.

Shapiro-
I realized that often people fall into careers they didn't previously expect they would. He never expected to be a journalist. Sometimes its by chance or a good connection, and sometimes something important happens that you feel you must be a part of, like in the case of Shapiro.
Taytum

Shapiro Takeaway - Gabriela Berrios

My takeaway from T. Rees Shapiro's talk was that one must always be on the lookout for opportunities. Even though what happened in Virginia Tech was a tragedy, he somehow used it to his advantage. I also liked his approach towards interviewing people, especially those that are mourning a loss. I really liked his technique of first talking about his or her life and then talking about the loss. I also liked how relatable he is. He talked to us like if we were little children but as college students. 

Shapiro Takeaway - Mary Elder

I learned a lot from hearing Taylor speak. However, one of the biggest takeaways I got from it was how aggressive the journalism field is. It is common to hear about how competitive the job market is, but it is hard to conceptualize it unless you have heard it from someone who has been through it. I never realized how much of a "shark" a person has to be. His talk changed my outlook on how I should see the jobs in the journalism field and what I have to do to get there. 

Shapiro Takeaway- Madison Moore

The biggest thing I took away from Shapiro's talk was that you always have to be prepared to take the most out of whatever situation you are in. Whether it was facing a tragedy in his own community, to being a copy aid and working his way into reporting, Shapiro took any opportunity he was presented and ran with it. He really left me with a sense that every story your covering has the potential to be a huge step in your career, if you can put in the work to make it that way. As a college student still figuring my life plan out Shapiro is incredibly inspiring, demonstrating that you do not have to have your whole life planned out to be successful, but simply be ready to take the chance when you need to.

Shapiro Takeaway - Tyler Berg

The biggest thing I took away from Taylor's thoughts last class was his relaxed disposition and his enjoyment of his job. The fact that he started off as a typical college student like the rest of us - not knowing what he wanted to do professionally - made me feel a little better about not having a very direct career plan at the moment. His passion for turning the traditionally boring and dry obituaries into more interesting stories emphasized the importance of taking advantage of every opportunity you have. Clearly, doing exactly that helped him climb to where he is now.

Shapiro Takeaway - Isabelle Caplan

I was surprised at how Taylor made the best out of his job writing obituaries. If I had dreams of being a journalist but was stuck writing obituaries, I'd probably be very frustrated and unhappy at first; but Taylor got to write one-of-a-kind stories, about snack inventors, for example, that were interesting and gave him writing experience. It sounded like Taylor really made the most of his time as an obit writer and has begun to climb the ladder, despite starting out as a copier.

Shapiro Takeaway - Aliya Levinstein

The most important thing that I took away from our discussion with Taylor was that you cannot be discouraged by being refused job positions, not just in journalism, but in any field. Taylor started off very low at the Washington Post and worked incredibly hard to get to where he is today.  I learned that motivation and setting yourself apart are crucial to being successful in your own field.  The idea that hard work will set you apart from the crowd is something that I always knew, but seeing a real example of that in Taylor reinforced that idea for me.  Taylor's discussion was very insightful and led me to think about a lot of things that I never had before.

Shapiro Takeaway - Emily Ambach

My greatest takeaway was how Shapiro emphasized the need to be cutthroat and willing to work as hard as you can in order to be successful. He mentioned multiple times that the Harvard student, though accomplished, won't always be better than you, especially if you show how much more you want the position. This is relevant to our generation because there are tons of people out there that are qualified for the position, so we have to be able to show how much more determined we are than the rest.

Shapiro Takeaway

One of the biggest things I took away from Taylor's talk is the freedom of reporters to go out and find stories. I was surprised to hear that he rarely gets story assignments. While that makes his job more difficult in that he has to actively seek out new, it also offers him a certain level of autonomy that I find exciting in the workplace.