This week celebrates a year that I've been publishing articles here on Odyssey. Throughout this year, I've learned a lot. I've learned about what I'm passionate about, what types of articles I like to write, and how to cope through writing.

Writing for Odyssey has truly been one of the best decisions I made throughout my senior year. It has helped me through a rough time of both dealing with applying to schools and dealing with my anxiety and depression.

I've learned that writing really is an escape from the world. Whether I want to write a short story or my thoughts and feelings, I escape through writing.

Whenever I'm feeling down, I write. When something good or bad happens, I write. When I need to express my thoughts and feelings, I write. I've found comfort in writing. It's a way of relieving what's been going on inside my head.

This year of writing for Odyssey has helped me in many ways. I've met people before coming to Rowan, and I have a group of people that I can go to when I need advice with any situation.

A year ago, I would have never thought that writing for an online platform would have taught me so much.

I remember sitting in McDonald's with my friend, catching up with each other and eating chicken nuggets. She asked me what I want to major in next year. I told her that I want to be a writer and that I wanted to major in journalism. It was a weird feeling telling her because I never really told many people about what I wanted to do. I was still testing the waters and making sure that that was what I wanted to do.

Anyway, when I told her what I wanted to major in and what schools I was interested in, she told me that one of her friends writes for "this thing called Odyssey Online". She explained it to me from what she understood and I was immediately interested.

During the next week of school, I saw my friend's friend in the library and asked her about it. She told me how to sign up, and within the next two weeks, I began writing for Odyssey.

Looking back, it's so crazy to see how far I've come both in terms of my writing and as a person. I even have people reaching out to me about how they love my writing, and some of the people aren't people I normally talk to! I've learned so many things about myself and I'm so grateful to have Odyssey.