Serving the Taylor community by sharing stories of people and events has provided me with valuable wisdom and thoughtful creativity.
When I first joined The Echo, I did not have any journalism experience. I had always loved writing, however, and stories have a way of broadening your perspective.
I grew up reading fiction stories. I enjoyed the escape they gave and how the characters interacted with each other. If someone asked a younger me what I would be writing in college, news articles would not be something that crossed my mind.
I do enjoy reading articles, so becoming a staff writer on The Echo sounded like a great opportunity to branch out of my comfort zone while engaging my passion for writing.
Toward the end of my freshman year in 2020, I saw an announcement for new staff writer positions in an email and took the chance, even though applying was a little scary when I did not know much about journalism.
It turns out that being a part of The Echo during the COVID-19 years helped me grow a lot not only as a writer, but also as a person.
During the summer, I returned to school about a week early for training, learned a lot about the process and met some amazing writers and editors.
The first story I ever covered was about what students did over the summer, how COVID-19 affected that and what they did to make the most of an unusual summer.
When the story was published, I felt honored seeing my name in the byline. I got to share students’ experiences that are now documented for anyone who is curious to know what summer 2020 was like.
Throughout the rest of my sophomore year, junior year and senior year, I have been blessed to be introduced to incredible students and faculty and learn so much from them.
While I am truly thankful for spending my four years of undergrad at Taylor, college years are only a short part of life. The Echo has shown me ways to make the most of the Taylor experience.
There are so many things to do, even while surrounded by cornfields. Taylor has so many fun traditions from Silent Night to Airband, and students come up with traditions on their wings and floors to continue developing lifelong friendships.
Of course, with the offering of so many fun opportunities that bring people together, there has to be a way to balance time between social activities and academics. Through conversations, I’ve discovered useful advice, but I admit, I still have not quite perfected it.
One of the joys of writing for The Echo, especially in the Life and Times section, is the ability to express creativity.
Creativity can be found anywhere, even in articles talking about what is happening around campus.
Between providing ideas for seasonal activities or giving thoughts about new trends, there are plenty of opportunities to use a creative outlet.
Most importantly, The Echo has greatly impacted my faith for the better.
At Taylor, it is super encouraging to be around like-minded people who support you, especially when a lot of us are in similar walks of life. Not only that, but seeing how God works in the lives of faculty and the student body gives me hope for the future.
Writing about how God provides for students and faculty shows how present he is and how much he cares for each and every one of us at Taylor and beyond Upland.
Embarking on this journey brought me growth and some of my favorite experiences, and I am so thankful to be a part of a long legacy of Echo writers encouraging creativity.
