April 9, 2013, was the day I committed to Mills. August 25, 2013, was the first day of orientation for Mills. May 13, 2017, is the day I graduate and celebrate the four most amazing, stressful, fun and hectic years of my life.
I still remember coming into The Campanil newsroom my second week during first semester of my first year. I have been here ever since, save for my spring semester of junior year when I went abroad. My time on the paper has been both insightful and scary. I remember my first article was about an ASMC meeting but after that, I found a calling in features – writing profiles and covering events. Then my sophomore year, I was offered the position as assistant online editor and found myself as online editor during my junior and senior years.
During this whole time, I kept asking myself, “What are you even doing?!” There were so many times I thought that I was underprepared and underqualified to write an article, let alone be an editor, but that’s the magic of The Campanil: You don’t just learn about what it takes to be on a newspaper and a team, you learn about yourself and what you are capable of.
I started at Mills confident that I was going to create my own major for journalism. Then I decided to major in sociology and minor in journalism, and it was after becoming online editor, as well as the student social media and media coordinator at the Office of Admissions, that I realized I wanted to do public relations. I invested more time on working as online editor, promoting our content via social media platforms, making signs and posters and putting together videos and photo albums. I developed all these skills to give me experience for public relations and to contribute to the paper.
The magic of the newsroom is building on the skills you have to learn more and do more. The magic is when you finally see your name in print or online attached to an article that you either spent a lot of time on or had to put together to meet your deadline. The magic is when you realize: “I know what I am doing and I am proud of it!”
I can’t thank The Campanil enough for the lessons, the support and the confidence I have gained. From my past editors to my current staff, I am proud to say it has been a pleasure to work with you. I am excited to see what future is in store for the paper and its future staff. I am even more excited to see where I am going in life, hopefully in public relations, with all the tools I have.
Thank you, Mills, for the good and bad times, for the inspiring friends, and for teaching me about who I am and who I want to be in. It has been an amazing four years but now, I am ready to take on the world.
