Well, it’s definitely not about the money — I’m a journalist because it truly combines two of my most favorite things: people and writing. 

Since I was young, I loved writing poems, journaling, English assignments and even helping my roommate write a letter to the Student Conduct Board to get her out of a little “801 day” trouble. If you ever want someone to read your screenplay, double check your cover letter or even just rhyme your name to things, I am more than happy to do so and probably already have a list started.

Throughout college and specifically working at the Daily, I have learned I am more extroverted than I ever thought I was. I am the only person talking in 8 a.m. Zoom breakout rooms, and unfortunately for you, my microphone works just fine. 

When I was taking my first story assignment at the Daily, my editor Sierra Hoeger basically told me a source for my story could be anybody on campus as long as I didn’t already know them and they didn’t work for the Daily. She said I should just walk up to them and ask them questions they potentially didn’t want to answer.

I nearly quit at the very idea of this. The sleazy reporter trope was already hard enough for me to get past, and this did not make it any easier.

Walking up to random students on campus and asking their opinions on things is something I began to do regularly. Approaching strangers no longer intimidates me, and I honestly started to enjoy it. 

During my short time with the Daily, I have had unending opportunities to meet new people, write, record podcasts and videos and find stories unique to Ames and Iowa State students, as well as learn about all the different niches in these communities. In addition to opportunities, I have also developed so many different skill sets I didn’t know I would ever need. 

For example, I now have NO issue cold-calling strangers and explaining, “My name is Sydney Novak, I’m an editor at the Iowa State Daily and I found your personal phone number in the Iowa State directory. I had sent you messages on Facebook, but would you be interested in being interviewed for a story at the Iowa State Daily?” I would welcome anyone to find a more eloquent, less-creepy way to word that, though, as I am still working on it. But I digress. 

Through my job at the Daily, I have learned there aren’t any people who are uninteresting. If you take the time and effort to ask questions and learn about someone else, you will learn new things from every interaction you have.

I’ve had the opportunity to cover Black Lives Matter protests in Ames, interviewed an Iowa State alumnus who is now a WWE fighter, and have any of you even met Mark Witherspoon, more commonly known as “Spoon?”

So since it is News Engagement Day, take some advice from an underpaid student journalist (at your own discretion, of course). The next time you have the chance to ride the bus, have a drink at a bar or sit next to a classmate in a lecture hall, it is well worth your while to say hi, introduce yourself and even pry a little.