If you had asked me when I started college if I thought this is where I would end up, I would say I am exactly where I thought I’d be and nowhere close.

I came into college with journalism as my declared major, and although I wavered a few times during my college career about whether journalism was the right choice, I know now I made the right decision.

I also knew I would end up as a sports reporter, sports has always been my passion, so therefore sports journalism was the only option for me. 

What surprised me was becoming a co-copy chief. That kind of came out of left field.

I always enjoyed my English and writing classes in high school, and although I did well in my math and science classes, I knew there was no way I could major in something like that in college.

So during my sophomore year of high school, I signed up for my school newspaper.

I didn’t have a certain beat like I do now — I pretty much wrote about anything under the sun — and I couldn’t tell you if anyone actually read the paper, but I enjoyed it and by senior year, I was the editor-in-chief.

I didn’t join the Iowa State Daily until my sophomore year of college, and when I did, I got put onto the academics beat because sports was all filled up, but I took it and started learning as much as I could. 

After the semester was over though, I knew it was time to make the switch, so after a semester off to study abroad, I asked our Editorial Adviser Mark “Spoon” Witherspoon if I could move to sports instead. 

It was at this same time I thought giving copy editing a try might be interesting. Spoon had me contact the copy chief at the time, Emily Pollock, to start that as well, and I’m glad I did.

I learned so much in my short time as a copy editor, that when Emily said she needed to find a new copy chief because she was studying abroad, I knew I wanted the chance to learn more. 

But I knew I couldn’t do it by myself while also juggling classes and sports reporting too. 

So my great friend and now Co-Copy Chief Paula Bekkerus and I decided to do it together. 

Now, a semester and a half into the job, I know I couldn’t have done it without her.

As a co-copy chief, I got the chance to be in the newsroom every day to see how hard everyone works to put out the best content possible for the community. I learned so much more being a co-copy chief and being there every day seeing the ins and outs than I probably ever would have if I just stayed in my comfort zone being a journalist.

The way I see it, journalism and the newsroom is like its own little ecosystem, delivering news to the Iowa State and Ames community. Our editor-in-chief, Sage Smith, is at the center of it all, making sure things run smoothly, and everyone else is doing their part and putting in hard work from their desks to get you the news. 

So on this News Engagement Day and every other day, I ask you to appreciate all of the hard work I and everyone else at the Daily put in day in and day out to make sure we are putting out a quality newspaper every day.