Meagan Falcon
Web editor
Students celebrated National Court Reporting and Captioning Week with a day of learning and celebration on Feb. 19 in the Venters Building on East Campus. Students interested in court reporting had the opportunity to spend a day learning what life is like as a court reporter and as a court-reporting student.
Nicole Medrano, a first-year student, started gaining interest in court reporting when she worked at the courthouse in San Antonio.
“I was there for nine years and when I met the court reporters from there I started getting a real interest in it and when I heard more about it I knew it was something I wanted to do,” Medrano said. “As a single mom, I knew that becoming a court reporter was the best choice for me financially as well.”
Medrano moved from San Antonio to Corpus Christi because of the court-reporting program at Del Mar College.
“I heard Del Mar had an excellent program for court reporting,” she said. “This is my first semester here and I really do like it. I can feel the difference and just being here for the first six weeks I am already sure that I will love it here.”
What makes court reporting even more fascinating is that it is not just in the courtroom. Being a court reporter has its advantages in many fields and can be applied in news, television, movie productions and hospitals.
“It is amazing how you are the one who keeps the record at the courthouse or the deposition,” said Ida Vaiz, a student in court reporting who is almost done with the program. Although you are the silent person in the courtroom you are the one in charge of all the records and when there is miscommunication on whether a lawyer said ‘this’ in the courtroom, they can just go back and check the court reporter’s notes because whatever is said in the notes is what goes. I am just so excited to hurry up and get out there!”
With technology being prone to malfunction, court reporters will always be in demand. Court reporters earned a median salary of just over $48,000 in 2014, according to payscale.com.
Anyone interested in learning more about court reporting can contact instructor Darcy Gohlke at 698-1449 or dgohkle@delmar.edu.
