What do you want to be when you grow up? I’ve been asked this countless times for as long as I can remember. A younger me would have told you that I wanted to be either a princess or a celebrity. I thought that Broadway was going to be my home. As I grew older, I realized that I loved the stage more than it loved me. I felt great while I was performing, but I was also realistic enough to know that my talent wasn’t up to the standard it needed to be to make a career out of it.

Fast-forward to my freshman year of high school. My english teacher had us write short stories at the end of each marking period. A lot of students groaned at the idea, but I loved it. The words just flowed onto the page for me and my teacher commented on my skill. Okay, so now I found something that I love and that I’m good at, but what am I going to do with it?

My sister was a junior at this point and she was a journalism student. She seemed to have fun with the class, so I decided to take Journalism 1 my sophomore year. At some point during that course I realized that journalism was what I wanted to do. This idea was confirmed again and again as I continued taking journalism courses throughout the rest of my high school career. I loved brainstorming article ideas. I loved interviewing people. I loved writing the stories. I loved laying them out. I loved seeing my story in print. I loved journalism.

As college got closer and closer I tossed around a few majors, but I decided on journalism pretty quickly and stuck with it. I’m lucky to have found my passion in life pretty early and still feel super confident with my decision.

With my future creeping up on me, I don’t know for sure what I will be doing. Do I want to write for a newspaper or magazine? Do I want to take on a different job in the field? I have the next few years to figure that out, but for now I know that I’m heading down the right path. The next thing on my list: Pick a minor.