Throughout my life there have been numerous instances where I have been searching for something, hoping that if and when I stumble across what I am looking for, I’ll know when I see it.

During high school I latched on to certain clubs here and there and tried sitting with the “cool” kids to see if I could find anything or anyone worth investing my time in.

With no luck, I went the rest of my freshman year lost and worried that my life would have no clear path to follow. I was still at an age where college seemed so far away, and picking a career path felt like a daunting task rather than something I wanted to spend a lot of time researching. To be fair, I was still at the age where I just wanted to go home and eat Cheez-its and watch ESPN all day (this actually still might be me today).

Thankfully, I needed another elective course for my sophomore year of high school, which is when I first came across a newspaper class. I thought to myself, “I enjoy reading, and writing can’t be that hard,” and so I signed up for the class and was interested to see where it would take me.

On the first day, I walked into this dark and cold corner of the school where the classroom had more dust bunnies than chairs. The desks and computers looked broken and out-of-date, to say the least.

The teacher, John Paddock, introduced himself to the class and said the class would “either make you or break you for writing,” which at the time, I was like, “Woah dude, I am just starting out in this class, and I already want to cry,” but as it turns out, he was right. Thank God he was.

Paddock and I formed a tight relationship over the next three years of my time in high school, as he was not only my newspaper adviser but also my high school baseball coach.

As time went on, Paddock would push me to write more and try to find details in every story. Now, obviously, we both knew this was a high school newspaper I was working for and not a prestigious paper like the Iowa State Daily (slight bias), but nonetheless, Paddock would tell me that everyone loves telling stories. 

I covered my high school football and basketball teams from my junior year to my senior year in high school, and I fell in love with telling stories and being the one who shapes the news of the day.

I realized my passion and career was right in front of me, and I wasn’t going to let it slip away. I latched onto my career path and have since loved every second of being a part of the awesome world of journalism.

As a sophomore, I am already covering Big 12 football and basketball, which is just nuts to me. My life has taken me on this path, and so far, I have loved every single up and down that has come with it. 

Journalism has shown me a clear path to how I can live my life to the fullest while also telling stories of my community everyday.

I thank each and every person who takes the time to read my articles, the articles of my peers at the Iowa State Daily and every publication that provides good journalism.

Journalism takes a lot of discipline, hard-work and courage to do, and I thank everyone who respects and values all of our work at the Iowa State Daily.

I know for a fact that each and every reporter and editor I work with loves this job, and I hope everyone who reads our content can feel that love in every word we write.