Whether you’ve been assigned to sports, Vox or a Missourian beat, you are about to experience an entirely different kind of class. Some of our former students say it helps to think about the Missourian (and Vox and sports) experience from the very beginning as a part-time job. One you don’t get paid for doing.

Unless you can think of future rewards (clips = job) as payment enough. Insert smiley face here. (Wait, I know how to do that…) I remember distinctly how hard this class was when I took it in the 1980s, before you were born. It was tough. My editor seemed to think I was an idiot. But then I did a really good story, and I remember him saying loudly, for everyone in the newsroom to hear, “Yep — Trimarco’s a professional, now.” (Trimarco was my name before I got married and simplified it to Reed.)

And then that story helped me get my first job. Yes, this is a testimonial. Seriously, this Missouri Method thing works, like it or not.

So jump in with both feet. Be brave, as my colleague Elizabeth Brixey likes to say. It will pay off.

Let’s go.