A bittersweet ending; on to the next chapter

I did not expect my last semester being editor-in-chief to end like this.

I graduated from W.B. Ray back in 2010; yes, when MySpace was dying and Facebook was in its prime.

I took a year off to take a break from school and try to raise money to move out. I started my first semester at Del Mar during the spring semester of 2011.

My major back then was education in English. My dream job was to be an English teacher — preferably to juniors in high school because that’s really when kids start to pay attention in class.

I took my basics, but once the semester was over I fell into some financial troubles. Yes, I got caught up with some loan sharks.

Not really.

I got fired from my job, which got my car repossessed because I fell behind on payments. Honestly, the loan sharks would’ve been better because there would’ve been no damage on my credit.

Regardless, I didn’t come back to school until the fall semester of 2018. I changed my major to journalism and got introduced to Robert Muilenburg, my adviser, and Scott Beckett, my lab adviser.

They turned out to be the fathers I never had.

Without getting too soppy, they welcomed me with open arms and pushed me to my full potential. They taught me so much about the journalism world and gave me so many opportunities to better myself.

I was nervous when I got assigned my first story, but I fell in love with the chase of finding a story. Finding information that not many people know about is thrilling, because I get to inform them.

I started off as a reporter my first semester back, and then became the managing editor my second. I felt the responsibility right away and learned how to use software to make the newspaper come to life.

My last year here, I was fortunate enough to be the editor-in-chief. These past two years have been amazing. The late evening press nights, the empty/full budget meetings, the work I’ve created, the people I’ve met and the memories along the way.

I was able to go to New York City and Washington, D.C., for journalism conferences. I attended workshops and learned how to take better pictures, how to make sure my team had their voice heard, how to make not-so-interesting stories interesting and so much more.

The week before this past spring break, I wasn’t preparing to not come back for this semester. I was a little worried about COVID-19 but didn’t think my town would be affected. Little did I know.

Unfortunately, I have to end my time with the Foghorn News team sooner than expected. Every editor and reporter I’ve worked with, I’ve learned something new. Whether it be how to be creative with designing or learning that we all come from different backgrounds of life, it was a blessing.

I’m looking forward to my next chapter as I intern at the Corpus Christi Caller Times this summer. So be on the lookout for me — I’m going to be someone soon.

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