In the blink of an eye, my four-year college career has ended at UW-Superior. However, my college journey did not originally begin at UWS.
For my first year and a half of college, I attended The College of St. Scholastica to pursue a degree in sports medicine. During my time at CSS, I found that a sports medicine degree was not the right fit for me.
I decided to transfer to UWS, where I enrolled in the Multimedia Journalism program with the intent to work in sports media.
(Left) Sports Editor Isaiah Wiita and (Right) Editor-in-Chief Drew Kerner during their time at the ACP conference at the University of Minnesota. Photo by Tom Hansen | The Promethean.
In my second semester at UWS, I took my first journalism class, COMM 203, with Tom Hansen. This class was amazing and for the first time in my college career, I had found a class that I enjoyed attending. After this course, Tom suggested I try writing for the student newspaper, The Promethean. I was hesitant at first, however at the start of the spring semester I decided to stop by a meeting and see what it was like.
After my first meeting with the Promethean, I met a lot of great people and decided to write for the newspaper as a volunteer.
As time went on, students who were leaders in the organization graduated from UWS. These roles had to be filled by other members of the newspaper.
One position that was open on the editorial staff was the sports editor role. I was lucky enough to be voted into this role and lead the sports team for the paper. This role as the sports editor gave me several opportunities to learn more about sports journalism. During my time with the Promethean, I gained many different skills that I can put on my resume for future jobs in the journalism industry.
Yet, this is not the only opportunity that the Promethean gave me. After working with Tom Hansen and Drew Kerner, the editor-in-chief of the Promethean, I was encouraged to apply at the Fox21 a local news station in Duluth.
Drew was already working at Fox21 and Tom felt that I had what it takes to get my foot in the door at a news station. I applied to Fox21 for the production assistant opening that they had, and I was accepted for the position. This was a great chance to get started at a news station, however it was not easy.
For my first year, I had to work the morning shift which ran from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. I worked this shift five days a week and had to attend class in the afternoon. Although it was difficult, it was worth it because I got to move my way up at Fox21 from a production assistant to a photojournalist, to one of their sports reporters, with the chance for a full-time job once I graduate college.
As my time at UW-Superior ends, I am forever grateful for the people I met in the Communication department and the Promethean who helped me get to where I am now.
