My senior year of high school I was unsure if I wanted to go away to college or not. I grew up in the same area -- and when my family and I moved, we moved 15 minutes away from the house I had grown up in. I applied to many different colleges, and then finally I decided that I wanted to go away to school at Radford University.
Flash forward to the beginning of Fall semester on move-in day. In many ways, that was the most terrifying day of my life. I was on my own, put in the same room as someone that I did not really know, in an area that was really far from everything I knew.
While this was the scariest thing I have ever done, it was also the best thing I could have done for myself. What I didn’t realize was that I was stuck in my bubble at my house, and if I had never gotten out on my own I would not have the experiences that I do now.
Because I moved hours away from my parents, I was forced to grow up really quickly. I had to learn how to not just survive on my own -- but thrive. The first week, however, I was able to meet some amazing people who became my go-to people whenever I needed someone to talk to or just wanted to hang out with someone.
The beginning of the first semester, I went to club fair. That was one of the best decisions I have made for myself. I was able to find my niche. I knew that Radford had student media on campus and that was one of the reasons I decided to go here. I never thought that I would end up becoming an editor and finding an amazing group of people who are always there to support me.
When I first started, I became an assistant editor for someone who now I consider to be my mentor. She was there to walk me through all of it and did not get frustrated that I had no prior knowledge of InDesign or how to manage writers. She was really easy to work with, and I was able to learn so much from her.
In a lot of ways, I have changed significantly since joining student media. I have become more confident and I have learned who my true friends are. Also by joining student media, my resume has become a lot longer and a lot stronger. There have been many opportunities for me to move up within student media, and they have been there every step of the way until I was able to do it on my own.
Overall, if you are a major in communications or media studies at any university, I highly recommend joining student media. You might be missing out on something amazing that can change your life forever. Joining student media is the best thing that I could have done for myself and most importantly, my future.
