Coming in to college I had no idea what the next four years would bring. I didn’t know any of my roommates (I picked essentially randomly), I had no idea what I wanted to study and I knew next to nothing about the area surrounding Bowling Green. I made friends with my roommates, but I rarely contributed meaningfully to conversations or plans because I was so nervous. I took a bunch of different classes to just see what I liked, including VCT and forensic science. I didn’t make any friends in my classes, I was just too nervous to put myself out there, so to speak. Journalism was in the back of my head, but I really wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until the very end of my freshman year that I decided to commit to journalism and see where it took me.

I had a terrible intro class, with too many people, a GA teaching and very little information on what being a journalist was actually like. But still, I stuck with it taking other journalism classes, a boring economics class and literally the worst class I have ever taken: a 1000 level computer science class about using Microsoft software that was somehow way too easy and way too hard.

I then started writing opinion columns for the BG News, talking about issues that were important to me. I was still too nervous to go to meetings, so I just turned them in through email and wasn’t actively involved.

It wasn’t until I had to get an on-campus internship the Fall semester of last year that I really started getting involved, and it finally convinced me that I really did like studying journalism. At this point I was much better at making conversation, but journalism is a field that really forces you to be to be able to talk to anyone at anytime.

You have to be able to just walk up to someone and get their name and opinion. You need to be able to bother someone until they get back to you about an interview. It forced me to learn more about the area we’re in. And, it gave me some direction. I think studying journalism really forced me out of my shell and I’m so grateful for that.

Through journalism and working with the BG News, I have learned so many things, met so many people and found a great place to hang out. Joining the BG News was one of the best decisions I ever made in my college career, along with continuing to live with one of my freshman year roommates and applying for a job at the Center for Women and Gender Equity.

While I have learned a lot from my friends (who I love more than anything), my jobs at the desk and at the Center and my classes, I think I have learned the most from the BG News. It has given me more confidence and the ability to talk to anyone at anytime. I owe a special thank you to all the friends I made in the newsroom.

So, if you’re on the fence about getting involved with any organization, but especially the BG News, I definitely recommend putting yourself out there.