Friday, February 20, 2009 By Brianna Armstrong [ArticleImageHyperLink] Advertising Guest speakers give useful insights (April 13, 2007) -- “Why bother writing poetry?” Students stared in wonder, searching for an answer to this absurd question. It was poetry class after all. “To discover yourself,” said junior Areg Zeytnaghyan. Poet Tina Demirdjian smiled. As the reasons for writing poetry circulated the room, Demirdjian shocked the class with another statement. “It’s not whether it’s good or bad, but if it’s powerful.” Demirdjian has been awarded numerous times for her poetry and teaches others poetry for a living. “It’s not just passion, but hard work too,” she said. The students she spoke to gained an invaluable insight into the realities of becoming a poet. Students lose out on this insight into jobs by bypassing speaking with a professional and heading straight for the computer. Although the Internet contains information on seemingly everything, it lacks certain information only a human could tell you. “You can learn the good and bad things about the job, what they love and don’t love about it,” humanities teacher Jennifer Davis said. “You’ll learn the amount of real work it is. My job is more than just 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.” That person may tell you what education is required, what kind of salary you can expect and may even become a mentor. English teacher Melanie Martin said that speaking with someone who has the job you desire is a good way to get a peek of what the job is like. “You can see where you want to end up,” she said.

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