Sometimes it's clear the student who comes in just wants to check the assignment off their "to do" list. But usually they're truly curious about how journalists, especially television reporters, do their jobs. I remember wondering the same thing years ago, long before I'd every heard of the term "job shadow." When I was trying to break into the television news business I sought out a mentor. I called a KING icon, Don McGaffin, whom I regularly watched on the news and politely asked if I could follow him around for a couple of days. Not only did McGaffin say "yes" he offered to critique my work in the years too come. And he did. As I moved from one small market to the next, I would send him tapes of my news stories. McGaffin always gave me an honest assessment of my work and as hard as it was to hear criticism, I respected him enough to act on it. He's gone now (he died in 2005), but I've never forgotten the help McGaffin gave me.

This year it was my twin daughters' turn to find job shadows. They are both interested in law and criminal justice, so I called another "mentor" of mine--a well known King County Judge whom I'd met years ago when he was a deputy prosecutor and I was a work study student in the King County Prosecutor's Office. The Judge invited my daughters to sit in on his trial, and he introduced them to the courtroom professionals there that day--lawyers, court reporter, bailiff, corrections officers. He even showed them a jail cell. They loved immersing themselves in a world they'd only seen depicted on television. It made an impression! And whether or not they choose to pursue a career in law, they will never forget that someone cared enough to offer them a glimpse into another world.