Regardless of our positions, we are still students

In my freshmen year of college here at Utah Valley, I was only enrolled in one communications class. It would be the start of my college career and a class that secured my thoughts of where I wanted to go in life.

I always knew that I wanted to do something with the news, which started when I visited the KSL Studios when I was 11, and continued until that freshmen class. The class was Reporting for the Mass Media and that is where I wrote my first news story, now I am the Sports Editor here at UVU Review and the learning hasn’t stopped.

The professor encouraged us to write about a news event on campus, something that may stir up controversy or that made us mad. Obviously I did a story on UVU’s parking.

The semester went on and I continued writing in the class and participating in the class discussions that were usually consumed with national and world news, al-Qaida,  President Obama, the government protest in India, you name it.

All those subjects are essential to modern journalism and are very important topics that need to be transparent for the reader. The journalists that cover such items literally risk their lives and to bring to light some of the best stories for the public.  When I reached the end of the semester, I realized that was not the approach I wanted to take, I just couldn’t keep up.

I knew sports writing was the direction I needed to take, the late games, the competition and the success. Part of me thought that taking the sports approach would be easier.

By the time summer had rolled around I was writing for UVU Review covering sports. My thoughts of how much easier sports reporting would be quickly changed when I realized I know the sport of basketball extremely well, but not as much about baseball or volleyball, or soccer, or rugby.

Since I have started covering some of the best athletics in UVU history I have heard countless athletes talk about how the new season brings new challenges and all they can do is give it their best. That will be the approach that I take with my new position as Sports Editor while I learn the rules of unfamiliar sports and face the challenges of tough stories.

My hopes for this year are that the Review covers as many sporting events as possible whether it’s a club team or a sponsored program with the school. But whether it’s someone studying pre-med, an editor at a paper or a young athlete, if we are under Utah Valley’s roof, we are students and we are learning. It’s an excuse I will take advantage of while I can.