When I joined Newspaper my junior year, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was debating between Yearbook and Newspaper, and really, my deciding factor for Newspaper was Greg’s, um, forceful persuasion.

I remember being completely baffled for nearly the whole first semester. I hid in the photographers’ office and pretended to always be editing my pictures, so I would never have to go out into the actual journalism room and talk to people. I would hear grunting, growling and yelling from the Editor’s office, and let’s just face it – I was scared of them.

Something changed second semester when I finally put myself out there. I think Mallett actually noticed me and realized I was a decent photographer. For some reason he liked me.

I would start venturing out of the photographer’s office and talking to more people, even though I still never went into the scary Editor’s office. I guess I made myself better known. Mallett started talking about this online paper, how we were going to have videos and a newscast and everything, and how “fanawesome” it was going to be. I decided it sounded like fun and that I would try out to be a news anchor for LBTV. When I did my audition, Mallett told me that he had something else in mind. He wanted me to be the Executive Producer.

What?

When had I ever proved myself capable of doing a huge job like that? I think I have this vibe that makes adults think that I’m really responsible. Not that I’m not responsible, but I didn’t really feel like I did too much in Newspaper and look where I was headed now!

Going into this, I really had no idea what I was doing, and actually, I still don’t really know half the time. But we get videos posted and I guess everyone likes them and I like making them. Also, it’s a nice perk to have people fetch my coffee and snackies. I wish.

So how did I end up at the top? I did a good job taking photos. I got everything done on time. I was nice to people, and I tried something new.