Halfway through the summer of 2015, I looked back at what I had originally registered to take in the fall at EvCC. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I think one of the classes I signed up for was something lame, so I looked at the class schedule for something different.

I found Journalism 101, Newswriting ,and had an excited spaz attack. I immediately signed up and I’m so happy I did.

A career in Journalism has been my dream for a long time and this felt like the first step to reaching it. Andrew Wahl, the adviser of The Clipper and head of the Journalism & Media Communications department, approached me and explained how he saw potential in me and that I should join The Clipper. I was hesitant at first, as I rarely get involved, and am not usually a social butterfly.

Joining The Clipper is one of the best decisions I have ever made. It truly emulates a professional work environment and its structure allows staff to discover what they’re good at. I put a lot of effort into writing stories and working on getting better at where I had lacked skill. The Clipper is like my second family, I learn from everyone on staff and it’s an amazing support system.

Andrew Wahl told me that I should consider applying for an editor position, and I was like “what? For real?” I started to think about it and I actually got excited about the idea of it, so I did. After a stressful couple of hours after my interview, waiting to hear back from the editing team, I found out I will be next year’s Editor-in-Chief.

Over my time on The Clipper, these past two quarters as a staff writer, I have developed a strong passion for the success of our news-gathering organization and the ideals of Journalism in general.

Next year I plan to continue thinking of our news-organization as “web-first.” I’m excited about having more multimedia stories, videos and slideshows. I think this will be a huge learning opportunity for me to develop more teamwork and leadership skills.

My confidence in my academic work has skyrocketed since I came to EvCC. I’m so thankful for the people I have met who have helped me get to this point and that I have a very strong editing team.

Here’s to the 2016-2017 year!

Sincerely,

Abby Tutor