Reflections on the Global Online Academy’s Digital Journalism Class

Every year, MICDS students have the opportunity to take a course through the Global Online Academy (GOA), a program that allows students to take online courses in a variety of subjects with peers from around the world. MICDS is the only Missouri school that is a member of the GOA.

Sofia Carr ’18, who has taken a few courses through GOA, offered her thoughts on what has been a transformative experience.

Through GOA, I found friendship where I least expected it: through a screen. I remember an assignment where I had to interview a classmate, who then questioned me right back from her own home in Monterrey, Mexico. Afterward, we went “off the record” and casually conversed about our opinions, hopes, and dreams and started a friendship that I am honored to say still stands today.

The class quickly integrated itself into my daily routine. I kept waiting for it to become arduous, but it never did thanks to resources from my digital journalism teacher to ensure that time would not work against me. Our first Skype meeting should have been awkward; my whole family was seen in the background, carrying boxes to a moving truck. He promised to stay on until there was no more heavy labor for me to do (he did). He was a professional—published in the Chicago Tribune— who patiently helped me over the obstacles of amateur journalism.

When friends ask what I love most about GOA, I tell them these things. I recommend it as a way to not only learn more about a school subject, but more importantly about people and about the world.