Late May of this year I came to the realization that Odyssey was actually being brought to my college campus. I thought to myself, the articles which I constantly read and relate to on a daily basis could possibly have my name as an author for now on. Right away I filled out an application to be possibly considered as one of the writers to represent my school. To my surprise I was contacted right away, not only was I offered the opportunity to be a writer, but I was also asked if I’d be willing to take on the editor-in-chief position. I’m not going to lie, I was completely caught off-guard and a little hesitant to take on such a big role as just a freshman in college. I thought to myself, there are probably so many more people that could do a better job running this community than I would. It was my responsibility to start this up on campus and now it's my mission to continue to help it grow.
When being asked to join, I had absolutely no idea I would get the chance to work closely with talented managing editors in New York City who would help me build my team of writers and other EICs from schools all across the United States. When starting this rollercoaster of an adventure, I never knew how much I'd be responsible for. I didn’t know I would be in charge of interviewing, selecting the content creators, managing everything, editing articles while also writing my own article every week. I learned quickly that juggling all of this wouldn’t be easy, but it most certainly is worth it. While writing my first article to be published, it never came across my mind that there is a possibility of my very own article getting shared across the nation and reach thousands of readers. The day I got asked to be editor-in-chief I had no idea what I was getting myself into, never mind how much of an impact my articles could potentially make on people across the world.
For anyone who knows me, they know how much I've always hated writing all throughout high school. This is the main reason why I was so hesitant to even be a writer for Odyssey, never mind be the editor-in-chief. However, being a part of Odyssey has been by far the best decision I have made in my freshman year of college. This experience has completely changed my perspective on writing and made the last few months of freshman year memorable.
Rhode Island College Odyssey community immediately turned into a second family for me; we instantly all connected. I could never thank my Odyssey family enough, always being a text away for support. I am so proud to be leading a community that supports each other a full 100 percent, making challenges that life throws at us a little bit easier to handle. But I could never thank Odyssey enough in general for giving me the chance to share my different perspectives, opinions and ideas that I am able to capture and display in my writing. There is a lot more to writing than people believe, it is an outlet for expression. Odyssey gives content creators a fast-growing platform to share their words of expression with the world and create almost their own portfolio full of personal writing. I am so proud to be a part of this growing social content platform.
There are so many different people that I owe thank-you's to. The No.1 person that I owe thanks to is my right-hand girl, my contributing editor, Caroline. I would never have survived this journey without you by my side learning the ropes of how to run everything. We have grown as leaders together and that I’m forever grateful for. Secondly, I am forever grateful for all of my writers; your commitment to writing articles combined with creativity does not go unnoticed. Your articles continue to make me beyond proud to be your leader. I feel so protective over all of you, like Caroline and I have grown to be the moms of the group — you guys are truly like family to us. At the start of this journey of getting everything started, you stuck with Caroline and I as we worked out the bumps in the road figuring everything out; thank you for that. And finally, a huge thank you to my readers and the typical people that continue to read and share my articles to support me continuously. I can only imagine how annoying it may be to constantly every week, seeing me post and promote my articles on Facebook. However, thank you for always clicking on it, taking the time to read it and leaving thoughtful comments; believe me, I really appreciate it. Odyssey has got me to come out of my comfort zone and do something I would never usually do while also giving me leadership and communication skills. Thank you so much I will always be proud and appreciative to be an editor-in-chief.
