Walking into my first day of newspaper class my freshman year, I was terrified. My eighth-grade ELA teacher had told me I would be a great fit in the class, so I signed up. I did not know what to expect; all I knew was I wanted to be just like Rory in Gilmore Girls. The day my very first story was due, I had no idea, had completely forgotten and had nothing prepared. I thought I had failed and was never going to succeed in this class, let alone in high school. During our Halloween party that year, I met Victorya Wilkinson and Hadley Cotton. We laughed, complained and we completely understood each other. It was then that I knew I was going to love being on this staff.

   Over the next few years, I progressed into leadership. I became a section editor my sophomore year and went to our nationals trip in the fall to St. Louis, it was there I fell in love with the design process. After the trip, I threw myself into my next design, spending multiple weeks and countless hours on a Taylor Swift-inspired design. It was then I realized I wanted to spend my life doing this. 

   I researched everything about being a designer and how I could do it. Then, in my junior year, I applied to countless scholarships and received many. I verbally committed myself to Northwest Missouri State University on a $50,000 scholarship. I had it all planned out. 

   Second semester of my senior year, I started to realize just how much it was going to cost me to go to college. I was trying my absolute hardest to afford it and put in the work so I could go away for college because it was my dream. 

   After trying and trying, I realized that being a beginner designer with over $40,000 of debt wasn’t smart, so I researched Metropolitan Community College, Kansas City and saw they offered an Associate’s Degree in Graphic Design. I then applied and realized that going away for college isn’t the end-all be-all; getting a free education that will get me a job in less than two years is more important. 

   I am so excited to experience and find every opportunity awaiting me in the next couple of years, and I’m so grateful to The Bell Newspaper for getting me to the point I am today.