I never thought I’d go down a path like this.

As a huge sports fan, for most of my life I just assumed I would do something with sports, whether it be business related, economics related or when I was really little, athletic related.

I came to Iowa State with journalism not even on my radar. I had enjoyed a couple English classes in high school despite all the writing, and my favorite teachers always seemed to be English teachers.

When I came to college with economics or political science on my mind, I thought I would end up in one of those fields, and I didn’t really feel like I belonged to either.

In 2017 — my freshman year — my home state baseball team the Minnesota Twins made the playoffs for the first time in seven years.

My friend, who had started a blog, asked me to write about who I thought would make the postseason roster.

I had never written anything like that, but he knew my general sports knowledge, so he asked me anyways.

It was stupid, not very well written and loaded with AP style errors, but I absolutely loved it.

I joined the Iowa State Daily soon after, and that was one of the best decisions of my life.

For two years, I’ve grown in my writing and in my skills as a journalist in observation, interviewing and professionalism.

The great majority of my articles haven’t been terribly important – as is the nature of sports writing – but I love it as much as that first blog post two years ago.

I have a lot of people to thank for where I am, but I wouldn’t have ever found this without a nudge from my friend with a blog.