During my time at school, I’ve thought about where I’ll eventually end up. My history is in the legal field; I’m a minute clerk for a Tulsa County Judge, and before then I did receptionist/running work for my Dad’s law firm. I’ve always seen myself working for a Judge who deals with criminal cases, but as I’ve progressed I’ve realized I may only see myself doing that because that’s all I know! Soon (as in, this week), I will be interning with a freelance reporter and I think that may shape my ultimate dream of my future career a little more realistically and expansively.

Two areas that intrigue me, though, are captioning and providing CART services. The accuracy required for these jobs is staggering and something I’m going to aim for. Plus, there are elements of assistance and beneficence in these jobs that is attractive. Ultimately, I think I would love to help a hard-of-hearing/deaf student complete their classes through the use of CART. I know my skills will be incredibly beneficial wherever I end up, but I would be glad for those skills to be beneficial to the everyday life of another person, as well.

I’ve been lucky to have Allison Hall as my court reporting instructor. She is very involved in furthering the court reporting profession and she’s passionate about educating both new students and the public about the value of a court reporter and court reporting work. The program that she has started (and which I’m participating in) has maintained a higher-than-average enrollment rate, and while I don’t know enough about how other court reporting students go through school to truly offer an educated opinion, I think a lot of that is due to how much effort she has put into every one of the topics suggested. She has networked and worked from those connections to provide better technology and quality of life for her students.

The majority of our students enrolled after seeing a television piece about the program aired on local news. So many people have absolutely no clue about what court reporting really is, but the interest is out there if we are willing to reach out and spread the word. Also, the program itself is appealing to a young, working audience who may be attracted to the profession – an 18-month night school taking place Monday through Wednesday from 5:30pm to 9:00pm, paid for monthly. A huge factor that may appeal to a wide audience is the fact you can get your certification without any additional student debt. This is just my observation, and again, I’m not familiar with the standard way a court reporting student may experience school, but the way Allison has designed her program feels innovative. I think the only answer to improvement comes from talking to those innovators and educators, those reaching out and raising up.

I don’t have a dream job. In my opinion, dream jobs are wishes one makes while sitting on the couch watching television and eating cake. A dream is something that will never come true because there is no action being put forth in order to achieve it. I prefer the term “goal” instead. My goal is to start my own agency and to teach court reporting to prospective students. I would also like to achieve all of the certifications available to court reporters such as my CVR-M and Realtime certifications. I want to be one of the best at this profession and become well-known in my area for producing extremely high-quality transcripts with desirable professionalism. I want to become a court reporter which clients remember and hold in high regard. I want to produce work that I can be proud of and stand among the elite in my profession. I also want to expose others to this career field which is so flexible and diverse.

I believe that had I known of this career field growing up, I would have pursued it earlier. I am mournful for that lost time. I want to change that mourning into something productive and I want to introduce this job into the schools as a potential alternative to enlisting in the military, acquiring a college degree, or exploring trade schools. I want to help raise the graduation rates by mentoring and teaching students the knowledge I have acquired.

The advice I have for the court reporting profession is to become more inclusive and welcoming towards both change and new court reporters. I also believe it could only benefit the court reporting profession to create at least one book which outlays the standard transcript format and addresses common court reporter dilemmas such as how to format an interruption, when and how to use (sic), and which provides a list of other common words or phrases are available for the court reporter such as [ph]. I am aware there is Morson’s English Guide for Court Reporters, however, I believe it would benefit the court reporting profession greatly if there was a more collaborative guide published by the NCRA or the NVRA. It would also be nice if the guide was not as expensive and more readily available to the new court reporter.

I am struck by how little representation there is for the court reporting profession in the local schools and colleges. I never saw a booth during career day in high school or attended a guest speakers lecture in college for a career in court reporting. I believe the massive shortage in court reporters in recent years may have less to do with the testing methods and the completion time than it does with the lack of representation of court reporting as a profession within the schools. There seems to be a cultural fear in the court reporting profession. This fear seems to be that the more court reporters there are, the fewer jobs there will ultimately be. This dichotomy is both ludicrous and self-destructive. My advice would be to change the culture around court reporting and to encourage court reporters to reach out to the schools and colleges. An easy way to begin the change would be to accept community service hours in which a court reporter goes to a school or college and presents being a court reporter to students in lieu of Continuing Education credit hours. Also, I believe offering Continuing Education credit hours to working court reporters for volunteering their time to work with court reporting students currently in school would help to increase the graduation rate. I believe the court reporting profession needs more action from its working court reporters if the profession is going to improve in any substantial way.

From the very beginning, the predominant aspect that drew me to this field was the opportunity to live and work outside of the U.S. In 2015, when I was 20 years old, I moved to France to nanny (ou comme on dit en francais: “au pair”) for a family for one year; it changed my life. I learned the language and immersed myself in the culture, discovered new places, and met people I now consider my best friends, one of whom being my boyfriend of three years.

That one year taught me more than I can put into words and gave me the freedom to explore an innate desire to see beyond my own tiny bubble of the world. I left France knowing I’d one day return to Europe, hopefully with a career in tow. International court reporting is that dream job for me. It is a skill set that can lead one to all corners of the globe. That said, I know it is advantageous to have some experience under my belt before taking on such a position abroad. I plan to learn as much as possible by freelancing, here in Oklahoma City, for a little while before taking that next step into the international sector.

All I feel is excitement and anticipation.

I have been asked how I finished school as quickly as I have, and without a doubt, it is largely thanks to testing. And when I say “testing,” I mean nine tests per day, every day of class. Before starting school, I thought once or twice a week was average; it’s what I figured was the standard. But I could tell something was different about the program I attended when my instructor told us how many opportunities we had to test in our speed. Not many people can say they get to try to move up a level each and every day they go to class. Daily testing brings with it motivation, accountability, and an immense feeling of satisfaction that I sense is, sadly, lacking in many court reporting programs today.

The only other area I could see the court reporting profession benefit from is visibility and promotion to teenagers and young adults. I didn’t find out about this incredible career until I was three years out of high school, accumulating student loans from a school I was only attending because I had no idea what else to do. If I had known about court reporting when I was in high school, I am quite confident I would have signed myself up then and there.

Court reporting and its foreign language may not be for everybody, but when it’s for you, you know. From there, it’s up to the individual to choose practice over procrastination, determination in times of doubt, and wholly invest themselves in completing the first step toward a lifelong and lucrative career.