My first day in the newsroom was terrifying.

I remember a little nervous freshman version of me stuttering in front of Mark “Spoon” Witherspoon, the editorial adviser, while I tried to explain I had no journalism experience whatsoever. But I wanted to learn, and I had the drive.

After spending a semester as a copy editor, I applied to be a copy chief. I had decided I couldn’t spend the rest of my life sitting comfortably; I needed to jump into the freezing cold water that is life.

From there, my experiences at the Daily snowballed. I remember then-News Editor of Academics Sage Smith introducing herself to me for the first time. I remember all the late nights with then-News Editor of Diversity Logan Metzger, then-Print Managing Editor Madelyn Ostendorf and the design team. I remember every single detail — and I don’t want to forget any of it.

And here I am, many weeks of being an online-only co-copy chief later. I work alongside my dear friend Megan Teske, who is always there to help me out whenever I can’t bring myself to edit out one more Oxford comma. My job as a copy chief is to read everything the Iowa State Daily produces and to edit for content, clarity, grammar and accuracy. To many, that probably sounds boring. To me, this is my dream job.

Through my journey at the Iowa State Daily, I’ve begun to recognize how much this job means to me. Language is powerful, and to be responsible for the Iowa State community in this way is incredibly rewarding.

There’s so much more to journalism than what meets the eye. Maybe you only read about politics, or maybe sports is your favorite. Is lifestyle what grabs your eye? It doesn’t matter. We are here to serve you. That’s what journalism is for.

In fact, local journalism is essential for every single one of us. Journalists are necessary for the well-being of our future, as a community and as a country.

I don’t think I could ever find the right words to fully encapsulate everything I’ve taken from my couple of semesters working in journalism. But what I do know is that journalists are taken for granted. A world without journalism is an unjust world that I don’t want to live in.

After all this time, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve met a lot more people and friends than I could ever imagine and I’ve spent more late nights editing than I’d like to admit, but every last second led me to where I am today, and I’m grateful for it all.