When I first transferred to SDSU, I had no idea what to expect. I had already spent two years at a UC, I moved across the state from my family and friends, and I was living in my sorority house where I didn’t know a single person. I spent many nights questioning if I made the right decision, or if I was doomed to a disappointing college career no matter where I attended. I am so happy to have been proven wrong.
I became a journalist because I want to tell stories that matter, both visually and verbally. The people I have interviewed and the pieces I have published mean everything to me. The stories I have published about the LGBTQ+ community make me so proud, and every day I am amazed by the people in my community and their resilience. The closeted 18-year-old in me is so proud of the outspoken, bisexual woman I am now.
Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. I can’t believe I am at the end of my college career at SDSU, and I am closing such a major chapter in my life. Now I know what every single graduating senior before me meant when they said time moved too fast and how surreal it felt to be writing their senior farewell because that’s exactly how I feel right now. This past year has been nothing like anyone could have planned, and it’s been a constant struggle of balance, survival, and frustration over the life I was missing to stay safe. The feeling I’ll have when I graduate in Petco Park will be indescribable.
There are so many people to thank, but I want to start with Amal, who recruited me to The Daily Aztec and set me on the path that shaped my college career. There’s Angela, my first friend at SDSU and The Daily Aztec and one of my truest friends. There’s Jack, Luis, Kyle, Reese and Amber, with who I spent so many hours and so many late nights grinding out work over Starbucks and tacos. There’s Trinity and Catlan, who I’ve grown so close to despite the thousands of miles (literally) between us. There’s my family, my boyfriend and my friends, who supported me and loved me unconditionally as I went through this journey.
No matter what my postgrad future holds for me, I will always treasure the hours I spent in the newsroom, at Qualcomm and at Viejas and at Trujillos making countless memories. Being a journalist is about advocacy and holding those in power responsible, and I’m grateful that while at SDSU, I got to do both. I took it for granted then, and I have learned to never do that again because we didn’t know it was the last time until it was too late.
Most importantly, I want to thank my past self. Nineteen-year-old me made the crazy hard decision to transfer from one four-year university to another with no idea if I was making the right call. Three years later, I can say she definitely did. The Daily Aztec and the people who have become family, and I wouldn’t be the journalist or the person, I am without them. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you to the organization that gave me everything I didn’t know I needed.
