I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. In fact, there is a picture of me by the lake from when I was about 7 years old, with a notebook propped up on my arm and a pencil in my hand.

I used to write stories about pioneers, copper thieves and even my friends. I would take the things I read about and the games of pretend my friends and I would play and turn them into my own stories scrawled out in multiple notebooks.

I also had a passion for explaining things to people. I was always– and still am– so excited to inform the world about all the fascinating things I’ve learned and it was always satisfying to be able to answer people’s questions.

For quite a while, I thought this meant that I was fated to be a teacher. When I started at Emporia State in 2019, I declared an English education major. However, it turns out my passion is actually writing.

My introduction to journalism was in my junior year of high school. Mr. Farnen, my favorite teacher, was the journalism teacher and the adviser for Hawkeye Publications. I started out in an independent study during one of his sophomore English classes and quickly learned to love journalism.

We had a monthly newsletter called “Stall Talk” that would be posted in the bathrooms with columns from each of the staff (I had an inspirational column). We also dabbled in broadcast news with the “Red Hawk (P)Review.” During my senior year, Rainbow Communications partnered with us and loaned us new equipment. I was the first one to use the new video camera to film a pep rally (I’m still proud of that).

I took a brief break from journalism when I started at ESU, but by my sophomore year I was right back in it, taking News Reporting and Advanced Reporting. By taking these classes, I was able to really hone my skills and dive into the ins and outs of news writing.

I also joined an investigative journalism internship that is mentored by ESU’s very own alumna Sarah Spicer. Through this, I was finally able to find my way to The Bulletin.

This is only my second semester working for The Bulletin, but it feels like I’ve been in it forever. The experiences I’ve had and the skills I’ve gained so far will last me a lifetime and I’m only getting started.

We’ve been rebuilding our staff this semester after COVID-19 and graduations hit us hard. Despite the setbacks the last couple of semesters, I think The Bulletin has a bright future ahead of us as we grow in more ways than one.

I’m excited to use my background with broadcast to help our new broadcast editor, Allie Funk, expand our coverage and engage more people. I’m also excited to bring back sports coverage slowly but surely with our sports editor, Jami Morain. I hope that with these things and increasing our online presence, we can really get the word out there about who we are and bring more news to more people.