Two years ago at community college, I decided to change my major. It was a hard conversation I had to have with myself but, a long time coming. I was in denial. While I was happy majoring in psychology and wanted to be a psychologist since middle school, my mind always went back to writing, poems and fashion magazines. I even thought about writing a book. However, because I was afraid of failing in the writing field, I played it safe and made it a hobby rather than a career.

When I finally let go of psychology, I had another question: what should my major be now? Because I liked writing and thought it would be cool to work for a fashion magazine, I decided on majoring in journalism.

After researching, I made a game plan. I needed to gain experience by joining a school newspaper and hopefully get an internship. In August 2017, I wrote my first story for The Wichitan as a reporter, and helped with the paper as much as I could. My dedication paid off when I won the 2018 Vinson Award. Yet, I started to feel stressed and pushed myself even harder because what I thought was my dream was finally coming out the way I wanted it to. I was becoming successful. With that, I applied as a managing editor, and after briefly being an assistant editor I became a Co-Editor.

However, with the new responsibilities, my grades started to slip, causing even more stress. With that, I decided to step back and focus on my grades. It was hard to step back because I became so invested in The Wichitan, I knew I had to get back on track to graduate on time. I also had to realize that while I wanted to build up my resume, I had to graduate to make the resume I had built actually mean something. I am thankful for the supportive staff members over the years and the opportunities (i.e. meeting Beto O’Rourke, and Becky Hammon) I experienced while being on staff.