I cried for 24 hours. Started in a steamy car on a hot July day right outside the George Mason Campus. This campus had hosted me and my now-close 186 friends for an entire six days. Through the welcoming smiles in the blazing heat on orientation day to the compacted theater where everything echoed including the out of tune resounding of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey during the closing ceremony, the Washington Journalism and Media Conference helped many student journalists, including my self, gain important inspiration for the future.

The first night 186 strangers in nice suits and dresses gathered in a room lit with green and gold. Eating and tweeting consecutively correspondents raise their voices as they got to know each other. Within the next thirty minutes we heard from Peter Doocy who is a general assignment reporter for Fox. He led all the student journalist on an adventure from where his career got started, thanks to John McCain’s hard-ball tour stop in Villanova, to how he got his career moving. Doocy supplied inspiration to these 186 correspondents on how they should never say no. To get his career moving he had said yes to any job opportunity at Fox News, even if it was an early morning job manning the tip line.

Student journalists gained inspiration from the conference organizers and interns about the importance of hard work, the importance of team work and kindness from the faculty advisers, and the importance of true supportive friends among my fellow correspondents. Each of our speakers inspired me to chase my dreams and find my own opportunities.

From Doocy’s never say no speech to Hoda Kotb’s story of perseverance. Kotb shared the beginning of her career with all the correspondents at the National Press Club in Washington DC. She started off with applying to a big wig news source in one place and was referred to another place that referred her again and each news station followed. Kotb drove all over the United States and landed the job that lead to her gaining a place as an anchor on the fourth hour of the today show

There was the fascination among the tears in the influence of photo journalism thanks to Carol Guzy’s presentation on her work to capture those heart-stopping moments. She was open about the emotional pain that follows her line of work. Guzy took a picture of all the conference giving her a standing ovation at the end of her slide show saying “I have to take picture of this to remember this moment. Thank you.”

The Washington Journalism and Media Conference allowed all correspondents to go deeper into the necessary passion for investigative journalism and what is required to make a difference. The speakers made a statement by not just  what they said but by how they said it. You could tell they were passionate about what they were talking about just by their tone and body language. David Coulver went in-depth during his break out session into his passion of journalism raving about how he reached out to news programs looking for an internship. NBC told him since he was a sophomore in high school when he was searching that they couldn’t offer him anything at the moment but to stay in contact. Culver maintained contact with NBC and with his persistence soon gained a small anchor job. In is presentation Culver would consistently say that you should let your passion drive you and not allow any road blocks.

Throughout the conference the phrase “Journalism is a first seat to history,” was repeated left and right. It is true, journalism is the key to progress and brings equality by exposing the wrong in the world. I want to make a difference and witness history as it is being made and the conference gave me the resources I need to do that.

The conference gave me an experience that has made my dream a goal and gave me hope. It taught me compassion through all the little things done by the other correspondents, the advisers, and the organizers. When Amy Takayama-Perez, dean of admissions at George Mason University welcomed everyone to the conference, she was able to build up the hype for the upcoming week by reminding us that we were all there for a reason. This was just the start to an experience that has changed my life. I walked out of there and went straight to work using my skills to gather information in a variety of settings. The Washington Journalism and Media Conference made me feel invincible because it helped me realize I could do whatever I set my mind to.