Since I was four years old, I have memories of my mom coming into my room and yelling at me to go to sleep, turn off the flashlight and stop reading because it was past my bedtime. Reading had been my passion until I realized there was another side to the activity I loved and it was writing.
I realized I could be the one writing the stories that other people read all night. With my wild little girl imagination, I began coming up with stories about my daily life growing up on Long Island in the stereotypically suburban town of Commack, NY. I wrote about everything from going on adventures as a lost boy with Peter Pan, my childhood idol, to playing in the pool with my two younger siblings. In high school, the reality hit me that I might not become the next J.K. Rowling, so I got involved in my school newspaper as a more practical outlet for my desire to write.
Journalism became a field where I was able to write about interesting subjects and see immediate reactions from my friends and family. The first time I saw my name in print, I knew that I had found my career. Journalism had been a foreign style of writing to me and I worked hard to learn as much as I could throughout my short high school career about it.
Even though I am just a freshman and one of the younger editors on The Spectrum staff, I love it as much as the next communications major. I know that working for The Spectrum will help me to continue to improve my writing and editing skills. I plan on staying on the staff and learning everything that I can to prepare me for a career in journalism after I graduate.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
