When I first came to The Daily Aztec offices, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. It was the beginning of my sophomore year and I had only just decided to try out journalism as a major. At that point, I wasn’t San Diego State’s biggest fan and hadn’t really found my place yet. So when I walked in to be interviewed for an opinion writing position and was greeted by a guy with a Mohawk and a death-metal T-shirt, I figured I could write off The DA as another lost cause.
But I stuck around. Mainly because I went to my first opinion staff meeting and had way more fun arguing with strangers about random topics than I thought possible.
And I learned to write. It was a slow process and I’m sure painful for the editors who miraculously found the patience to deal with me, but I eventually improved. Looking back on that time now, I know I owe the entire basis of my journalistic education to the editors who came before me like Leo Castaneda, Sofie Casillas and Ana Ceballos, as well as the ones who I’ll graduate with in just a couple weeks.
Besides growing as a reporter and editor, I kept coming back to The DA because it became something more to me. In that basement office with dusty old couches and zero windows, I found my on-campus home. At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy and inevitably being made fun of by my fellow editors, I can say that when I look back on my time in college, I’ll remember my DA family and be grateful. I’m still just as shocked by the incredible loyalty of my writers when I first became opinion editor as I am that I got to spend the past year leading the paper with people like Monica Linzmeier, who has always supported me professionally as had grown to be one of my closest friends.
To those who have been a part of my time at The DA: thank you for everything you have done for me. And to any young Aztecs out there still looking for their place: take a chance, it just might work out better than you ever imagined.
