Journalism Graduate Students Devon Marti and Saiyna Bashir get ready to go interview some of Chicago’s homeless population.

It might sound cliché and in a way it is, but the thing that I have learned the most not just this semester but during my entire time in this program, is to do the things that scare you. This semester alone, I can assure you I have run into this situation a few times.

These situations were all times in which I either had to do something I had never done before, like go interview a state representative in the capitol building in Springfield, or when I had to do something I wasn’t sure I was comfortable doing, like asking a homeless man if he cared about Chicago’s mayoral election, while he struggled to find something to eat that night.

However, in both of these situations and many others like it, I learned that once I got over my fear, once I jumped outside my comfort zone, there was really nothing to be scared of in the first place.

When I approached State Rep. Ken Dunkin (5th District) after he had just finished presenting his bill to house’s Human Services Committee, which would make sure children in the state’s eight temporary shelters are being placed in secured living environments, I was terrified. I had never approached a state representative before and I wasn’t sure how he was going to respond to me—a mere graduate student.

To my surprise Dunkin was nothing but accommodating. He answered my questions as if I were a reporter from a big media outlet. When I told him I was just a graduate student, he applauded me for coming to Springfield to cover the hearing and gave me a lot of background information which helped my story get published on www.chicagotalks.org.

View of the Chicago Tribune Building from the Chicago River.

I realized there was nothing to be afraid of when it came to approaching legislators as they are in fact there to serve the public, just like journalists. I figured out at that moment that getting over fears like this was going to be something I had to continue to work on, but from this point on I knew I was able to do it and that the outcome was better than what I had expected.

I had the same experience when I went outside of my comfort zone. After meeting a reporter from Al Jazeera America, I decided I wanted to pitch a story to them about the homeless voting population in Chicago and how it might affect the mayoral run-off election. For those who don’t know, April 7th was the first ever mayoral run-off election in Chicago between Re-Elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

Pitching the story to Al Jazeera America alone was something that scared me, but I figured what was the worst that could happen, they’d say no? To my surprise, they said yes and I was assigned to work with the reporter I had met to complete the story.

Now I have never been one to shy away from striking up a conversation with a stranger, whether they are a homeless person on the street or the person sitting next to me on the train ride to school. I enjoy talking to others and finding out a little bit about their story, call it the journalist in me. But to go up to a homeless man and ask him if he is a registered voter and if he is planning on voting in the run-off election was something I felt might come off as arrogant.

I especially was nervous because only 5 percent of Chicago’s some 10,000 homeless residents are estimated to be registered voters, so I didn’t think I would be able to find anyone to interview. However, to my surprise the first man I approached, Willie, was not only a registered voter, he was planning on voting in the election and he was able to tell me whom he was voting for and why.

I realized after talking to Willie that I had nothing to feel uncomfortable about. Not only were Willie and the five other people I interviewed willing to speak to me, they were happy to help me with my story even if they weren’t voting. My interviews from this experience helped add to my story and made it a very successful piece.

After seeing my story published in Al Jazeera America, I realized this is why I became a journalist, to be the voice of those who are speechless, for those unable to tell their own story.

William “Willie” Barnes, 64, in his home on the side of the rushing Dan Ryan Expressway near Chicago’s downtown.

While I am just starting out in this industry and have just started to concur some of the fears that come along with being a journalist, I have experienced the reward that comes from pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. I know now that in order to be the journalist I want to be, to always report a story accurately and fairly, I have to get all sides of it. And sometimes to do that, I will be testing my limits and I will be forced out of my comfort zone, but the accomplishment of being able to tell the stories of those who can’t themselves…that is the real reward.