“Why” could have been the buzz word of the week. Sitting in class earlier last week, I could feel it grow wings and flutter throughout the regions of my brain.

“Why?” was the question asked over and over by one of our professors as she kept needling one of my classmates to get to the bottom of a situation she was having at work.

“Why” has been wondered by all of us as we watch the cafeteria here at the University of Nevada fill up with athletes and referees at lunch and dinner. Seriously, why are there so many referees here?

In one class session, each of us was instructed to ask why each time we edit a story for our newspapers. As an exercise, we were given an article to edit on a survey done by the CDC that found troubling trends in the behavior of Hispanic teenagers. While each one of us took our time (well, more like we were given fifteen minutes to work on this) making sure sentences were structured properly and everything adhered to AP style, we forgot to focus on the big picture. As we gingerly crafted our headlines, we neglected to ask one of the important questions: Why were these troubling trends occurring?

Too often in our haste to churn out news stories and make deadlines, we has journalists these days tend to miss the big picture questions and ask why. There are amazing stories out there to be told and countless injustices to unearth. But we don’t always dig far enough beneath the surface to find them.

That’s why I went into this business. I, perhaps naively, thought I could make a difference in this world doing my job. Yet too many days I tend to return to my empty apartment feeling a bit unfulfilled. Why?

We’ve been advised to think about things like this, too, while participating in this program. Why are we in the positions we’re in? Why aren’t we having the impact we want to have in the industry?

My mind continues to drown in the swarm of why. I keep getting e-mails and phone calls from people wanting to know what I’ve been learning during my time at the Maynard Institute. My possible responses are so overwhelming, I often just respond by telling them I’m just learning too much.

There’s just too much to compute all at once. In addition to all of the grammar and practical editing skills I’ve been acquiring and honing, I’ve also been stocking up on the life lessons.

I’ve learned that there are even more amazing people out in this world than I knew before. I’ve been fascinated (and often amused) by so many of my classmates’ life stories. In just two weeks, I felt my world grow larger and my support system grow stronger. While many of our stories and backgrounds are different, so many of our situations are similar.

The professionals that have come in to work with us so far have been exceptional. Sitting back in amazement of their accomplishments, I often wonder will I ever acquire what it takes to be as good at what I do as they are. Will I ever have their talent and expertise?

Why am I here in Reno at this time in my life? I’ve been keeping a personal journal hoping that at the end of this editing program it will all be so much clearer to me. And who, I ask myself, will I become?