Red carpets, movie stars and premieres are the last things people think of when they hear Missouri.

For most young adults in the Midwest, especially Missouri, these three things are hard to find.  But when you are a Park University student, surprises lurk right around the corner more often than you think.

Earlier this week, we were given the opportunity to check these three things off our bucket lists, thanks to a surprise phone call from Kansas City’s Warner Bros. office.  “A Good Lie,” featuring Reese Witherspoon, is set to hit theaters on Oct. 3.  The film is based on the story of Sudanese refugees who relocated to the Kansas City area to embark on life-changing experiences.

On Monday, we were invited to the special red carpet premiere event as members of the press.  During that event, we were given the opportunity to play the role of professional journalists by taking photos, conducting interviews and making connections.  Although we were unsure if it would be worth our time, we decided to take a leap of faith and see what would happen – who knows, we might learn something.

We checked in outside the theater, put on our wristbands, which gave us access to “set up” along the red carpet, and waited for the rest of the press party to arrive.  From taking selfies at our first red carpet premiere, to spending 15 minutes deciding what camera and lens we wanted to use and then going back and forth to the car multiple times for this reason, to putting up this façade that we knew what we were doing and had a plan, it was obvious our skills were not quite up to par.

But that’s okay, because we’re still learning.  We learned that it’s best to be over-prepared. It’s okay to loosen up; nothing is ever set in stone. We learned plans change on the spot and always have a back-up plan because, as Professor John Lofflin would say, that’s “big-league thinking.”

Most importantly, we learned that working as a professional journalist is totally different than working as a student journalist.  When you work in a professional atmosphere, you are thrown on the spot.  Everything is faster paced, unpredictable and it’s the survival of the fittest.

Not one time during the event did we feel comfortable, confident or ahead of the game, but we can both laugh at the fact that we weren’t any of these and learn from that.  But after taking our leap of faith, we can now feel one step closer to the expectations of our profession and we’ll be ready for when the next time comes our way.