From August 19th to the 22nd, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. At this convention, groups of U.S. citizens, journalists, reporters, celebrities, and many more people across the nation attended in order to hear what our political leaders had to say.

Godwin 2023 alumna Abby Gravely, now a sophomore at Elon University, was able to attend the DNC with two of her journalistic peers. “It was April when I was originally asked if I wanted to go to the DNC, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity. I felt like it would be an incredible experience for me to build my skills and work in a real-world setting,” said Gravely. 

 Gravely is an avid writer for the Elon News Network, recently writing multiple news articles about information she learned at the convention.

 Though she and her team did a fair amount of collaborative work, Gravely’s main role within her trio was broadcasting and filming. “I filmed the primetime events each night and made video recaps of the speakers and performances. I also was the one on camera most of the time when we filmed reporter stand-ups,” said Gravely.

Gravely followed a specific schedule each day she attended the convention, including waking up way too early and working on stories way too late. “When the programming ended around 11, we would ride the shuttle back to the hotel and work on the nightly recaps, finishing feature stories, editing photos, etc. until around 2 a.m. when we went to bed,” said Gravely. 

Though Gravely was working tirelessly, she still found time to sit back and immerse herself into the experience, becoming one with the crowd. Attending in person and viewing from the television differs tremendously. “Honestly, most of the time when I wasn’t actively working on stuff, I was in awe. Seeing famous musicians and well-known politicians in person and actively getting to write about the events was insane, and I spent a lot of the time in disbelief.”

Gaining this experience as a young journalist early in her career has developed into a great achievement, and she was sure not to let it go to waste. At the convention, she wrote and assisted with writing four articles that were published each day she was at the convention.

When asked about some of the emotions she felt during the week, she said, “I felt really proud of myself, as I grew a lot over the course of the week, and covering an event of that scale was something I never thought I would do, especially this early in my career.”

Obtaining the opportunity to be present during the convention was not only a memorable, unforgettable experience for Gravely but also one that will certainly further her development in the field of journalism.