It’s been a journey, but new challenges await

Well, it’s been a journey, but it is with a mostly excited nature that I say I’m leaving the Daily American Republic.
I’ve enjoyed my time here covering everything from school events to local elections and the census, but it’s time to move on.
I’ll be moving to Jefferson City to work for the Jefferson City News Tribune covering city government.
For the last year and a half, Poplar Bluff and the DAR have been my home.
During my time here, I’ve met people passionate about their job and the responsibilities we have as journalists, such as Michelle Friedrich, Barbara Ann Horton and Paul Davis. I’ve had sources call me late on a Saturday night in tears over the death of a student. I’ve also learned from high school students passionate about elections and seen an auditorium of elementary students cheer over yo-yo tricks.
I haven’t always been perfect at my job, we all make mistakes, but I’ve enjoyed my work and tried to bring important news to the community.
COVID-19 ended up dominating my time in Poplar Bluff, which meant learning how to cover school board meetings and education while unable to leave my home. I’ve done many an interview over the phone that I’d have rather done in person, but I didn’t want to put myself or the person I was interviewing at risk.
During this pandemic, I kept hearing from superintendents that school never taught them how to handle something like this. Maybe it’s just my own over confidence, but I didn’t feel that way. I felt prepared to cover a major event like COVID-19. However, I’ve learned in the last few months that I was prepared for short-term crises such as a bomb threat on my university’s campus (a fictional training simulation I did in college) or a hurricane, but those tend to be short lived. A day or two, maybe a week, and they’re done.
We’re at almost a year of the pandemic in Missouri. I wasn’t trained to cover the long haul of crisis. Have we done it perfectly? Again, no. However, we as an industry have hopefully learned from this experience. I know I have.
While I’m disappointed to be leaving my DAR family, I know I’ll find a new one in Jefferson City. I’ll face new challenges, learn new things and meet new, amazing people as I have here.
Michael Shine is a staff writer at the Daily American Republic. He can be reached at mshine.dar@gmail.com.