In the past when folks have asked me what I like about my job or how I got into a journalism career, my go-to answer has always been simply the fact that I love to write.
And while at the core of things, that’s probably the simplest answer I can give – things are more complicated than that.
I have mentioned over the years before that my passion has always been writing and that’s not up for debate or clarification any time soon.
As long and as far back as I can remember, reading and writing went hand-in-hand in my life while extending beyond the classroom.
However, the type of writing has changed since being chucked into the deep end of a newsroom and having scraps of stories shoveled into my lap that the senior reporter didn’t want to deal with.
It was definitely rather arbitrary and aimless grunt work that exposed me to a variety of organizations, governing bodies and people that finally gave me another direction to write towards.
The more I covered and attended, the more I learned about not only my community, but also myself.
Journalism altered my trajectory in the middle of my college experience and I’ve hardly ever looked back since.
After all, we’re only a few months shy of year 13 here at The Sentinel and I recently had the chance to clean out my last lingering plastic tote full of college stuff.
See, after I got my Associate’s, I headed to Angelo State University and got a job at the campus newspaper as a reporter.
Unlike the majority of the rest of the team there, I had real world experience under my belt and had taken copies of my favorite stories to help secure that position in college, too.
I found a few of those old, yellowed newspapers in that tote a few weeks ago.
One of the ones I had largely forgotten about managed to stick out at me – a 2009 Bay City ISD bond election story had helped me land my college job and paved the way for the other multiple bond elections I’d cover in the future.
In fact, I’ve been present for the majority of those from three local districts over the years since and am currently waiting to see what happens this upcoming fall.
I mean, I’ve covered bond elections for nearly two decades and hate to tell you that I’ll always side with the schools in question.
Even when it seems like some outrageous dollar amount or there’s bitter feelings still poisoning the public – I’ll always vote in favor of the school district.
That also counts double when state and federal officials are currently waging war on education in public schools.
Compressed tax rates, unfunded mandates, and the theft of public funds to support private vouchers are nothing short of rage-inducing!
I’m a product of public schooling and want nothing more than to continue to see our districts providing more opportunities and chances for future children to attain their goals and dreams.
After all, I’ve heard officials waxing poetic about bringing young adults back to the community for years and as much as I love the idea of an Aldi setting up shop here – I don’t think it’s going to matter much if we continue to let our districts flounder because some elected dingbats decide students and staff are worth less in Matagorda County.
Pushing to support local public schools over all others is the hill I’ll gladly die on and continually vote in favor for – regardless of naysayers, the bitterly entitled or bottom-of-the-barrel elected officials.
