While writing has always been a passion of mine and something that I know I want to pursue in my career, I had never envisaged joining the Daily Campus. As cliché as that may be to say, it is the truth, and I still remember exactly where I was when I sent former Associate Sports Editor Stratton Stave an email basically begging to join the section. However, I wasn’t just any writer that the DC would be taking on.
When I joined near the beginning of my first year, I was not on the Storrs campus. I was a regional student at UConn Waterbury. To be blunt, I was bored with nothing to do other than work and school. I knew I needed some activity and community to fill my time, since the current work-life balance was virtually non-existent.
To this day, I am still grateful to not only Stratton, but also former Sports Editor Jon Synott, who welcomed me into the section with open arms, encouraging me to write about whatever ideas and takes I had. Little did I know at the time, but this was the outlet that I wanted and needed. While I immediately took the women’s swim beat, it wasn’t long before I started writing in my weekly columns, which is where my love for journalism took off. In fact, I enjoyed writing so much that I wrote in two columns my freshman year, never getting paid for one of them. Yet throughout my time at the DC, it was never about the money.
In my second year, when I started getting paid to write, I similarly received some news from Stratton and former Associate Sports Editor Evan Rodriguez that changed my entire perspective on writing. At the involvement fair that year, I found some other clubs that I was interested in joining, to split my time at the DC and try new things. However, nearly 30 minutes after I left the involvement fair, I received a Slack from Stratton asking to meet. I had no idea why he wanted to meet since we had never talked outside the DC building before, but I decided to see him anyway. When I met up with him, he shared with me that he and Evan wanted to make me a men’s basketball beat writer. I was so overjoyed at that moment. Coming from UConn Waterbury, joining over Zoom, I could never believe that this was ever a possibility for me, and this is where I became the most involved with the section.
I cannot thank Stratton and Evan enough. Not only were they two of the best people to cover men’s basketball with, but they are friends that I have to this day, and I had the coolest job, by far, on campus. With weekend trips to New York, Boston, Raleigh, Arizona and even the White House, my college experience changed forever. Two years ago, after UConn won the national championship and I was sitting in Arizona, it was hard not to become a little emotional with how far I had come, from joining meetings on Zoom to interviewing Tristen Newton. Coming to the Storrs campus for the first time, I had never imagined covering UConn men’s basketball, and now I can’t imagine what college would have been like without it.
While I am making a killing out of this word count (sorry), I figured the next best thing I could do with my remaining space is to thank a couple of people I have met throughout my journey.
Thank you to Bridget and Avery for being my co-editors throughout this year. Becoming sports editor was not easy, which the two of you can attest to, yet you guys made it as painless as possible.
Thank you to Stratton and Evan. We all managed to become friends after an incredible year of covering basketball. I am truly excited to see everything you guys do, and having editors like you gave me something to strive for in my third year.
To my family, specifically the seven-person group chat to which half of you muted: Thank you for supporting me and my content by reading it and sharing it with others. It meant everything to me having your support through this journey, as you were all alongside me since the beginning of my too-short DC career.