The Battalion
December 2019
To be honest, I joined my high school newspaper sophomore year because I loved the idea of seeing my full name in print. I became editor-in-chief my junior year and won a bunch of awards at competitions, so I seriously considered studying journalism at the University of Texas. However, I decided to attend Texas A&M and study Biomedical Sciences instead so I could take the prerequisites to attend veterinary school. As a sort of compromise, I applied to work at Texas A&M's student newspaper, The Battalion, to see what working for a more serious publication would be like and if journalism was a career path I should pursue further.
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I chose to write for the Life and Arts desk because it covered human interest stories - the stories I enjoyed writing the most in high school. As part of the desk, I had to write two to three articles a week, and each article had to have three different sources. If you do the math, I had to schedule six to nine interviews per week while taking 14 hours of freshman STEM weed-out classes. It was a rough gig, especially because it was unpaid. There were times when no one responded to my calls or emails and I had to submit articles with too few sources, or worse - I had to return to my editors in shame, confessing I would not be submitting my story on time. Despite the hardships, nothing beat the feeling of seeing your article up in full on the website or in print around campus.
At the end of my first semester, I was selected for a scholarship in recognition of my hard work. Additionally, I was one of two staff writers selected to work on an investigative project on the Corps of Cadets as part of the Poynter College Media Project.
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The project investigated hazing in the Corps and provided context for those unfamiliar with how the Corps worked. I was selected to write stories on housing, the history of women in the Corps, and the history of hazing cases in the organization. For more information, you can find "Corps Values" on my Projects page. I was very proud of my work on this project because I got to work very closely with the editorial staff throughout it, and I got to learn a lot about the Corps and the process of investigative journalism.
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After the spring semester, I was on the fence about whether or not I should continue working for The Battalion. My classes had been placed on the backburner, but I had somehow maintained the GPA needed for my scholarship. This required staying up until 3 am many nights to finish lab reports, not because I procrastinated, but because it was literally the only time I could work on them. Being a writer had also taken a toll on my mental health, as there were no days off and I couldn't participate in a lot of social activities. When I did, I felt guilty that I was falling behind on my stories. So I set a boundary for myself: I would not continue as a writer in the fall.
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However, through my connections made while working with the editorial staff on "Corps Values", the role of Life and Arts editor grew in appeal. I would be paid for my time in the office (lovingly called "The Batt Cave") while working to produce the paper for the next day, and I would be working with a team instead of floating solo. Additionally, I would not be required to write articles. I loved proofreading articles for errors, so being an editor seemed like the perfect job for me.
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It wasn't.
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I loved the other editors I worked with, but I hated spending three days of my week in a basement, from 3 pm to whenever we finished the paper (sometimes 2 am) sitting in a chair and staring at a screen. I loved getting to mentor a team of writers, but I hated when they wouldn't listen and would make the same mistakes over and over again, forcing me to stay late and rewrite their stories for them. I loved finally being able to earn a paycheck for my work, but I hated that I was not paid for the countless hours I spent working outside of the office.
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I quickly burnt out, and it became impossible to keep up in my classes. When I had to fill out my first Q-drop form for organic chemistry, I knew that I had to drop one of my many commitments.
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I realized the only thing keeping me from quitting The Battalion was that I didn't want to be seen as a quitter. I had never quit anything in my life before. I had just powered through all the things I hated, but I couldn't do that anymore. I used to love the thrill of scheduling interviews and putting together an article like a puzzle, but I no longer felt any passion for my work. It only felt like I was drowning. I had to get my priorities straight, and I knew becoming a journalist was no longer one of them. I decided to not reapply for the editor position for spring semester.
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I'm in college studying to apply to veterinary school, and I spent almost two years absorbed in the field of journalism. As much as I tend to complain about working the newspaper when it's brought up, I'm sometimes asked if I regretted my decision to apply. The answer is: I don't. I was naturally talented at journalism, and it was a career path I seriously considered for two years. If I hadn't gotten the experience I have now, I would never know whether or not I would enjoy actually working in journalism. I had the opportunity to fully commit myself to one of my passions and get the closure knowing that I would absolutely loathe working a desk job and staring at a computer all day. It has reaffirmed my choice to become a veterinarian, where I can move around and work with my hands for most of the day.
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Additionally, it was the perfect place for me to be, coming into college as a very shy freshman. I attribute most of my personal growth freshman year to working at the newspaper. I absolutely hated making phone calls and sending cold emails, but I had to get proficient at sending professional communication quickly, a skill most college students never learn. I had to become an expert in time management in order to schedule all my interviews and write all my articles. I had to be great at working with people in order to get great quotes in my interviews. I became an even better writer, a skill that translated to my lab reports and research papers. I had to complete what was basically a huge team project a few times every week in order to get papers out onto the stands. All of these skills apply to most jobs, especially the field of veterinary medicine.
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I can also leave college feeling like I was truly involved. I have learned so much about Texas A&M history from working at The Battalion, while getting to be in the middle of it at the same time. I wrote 47 articles throughout my time there, including coverage of George H.W. Bush's death, Ring Day, Muster, Bonfire Remembrance, and various concerts and plays held on campus. In addition to students and faculty, I've gotten to speak to people like Cliff Hogg from Big Brother, the architect who designed JFK's gravesite, and Tom Chapin, brother of Harry Chapin. One of my most memorable interviews was with a father of a student who had passed and was to be honored at Silver Taps. In high school, I was terrified of interviewing the principal about dress code. Two years later, I was holding back my tears as a mourning father confessed about how much he missed his son.
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Working at The Battalion was an intense experience, but it made me a well-rounded person and provided a unique lens through which I can view my college experience and the world. I learned that it's okay to quit things even if you're good at them. I learned how to set boundaries for myself so that I could have a good work-life balance. I became a more outgoing person, a better communicator, and a more informed consumer of media. Although I still sometimes have nightmares about missing a deadline for an article, I wouldn't trade my experience at The Batt for the world. I have great respect for people who choose to work in the world of journalism.
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