The View From Here

The clouds are rolling in, the sun is setting... City buses are grinding through the SDSU transit center and the NBA finals are drowning most of my thoughts. I've had several false starts, as I sat down to compose a post, so I've decided to just run with whatever word vomit I come up with.

Like so many of the others who have posted, my path to Jessica Young, Journalism Advisor, has been a meandering one. I grew up in Southern Oregon, and participated in both yearbook and newspaper in junior high and high school. I also got involved with my high school debate team, which taught me how to incorporate a little tact into my often abrasive opinions. My experience with those three organizations during high school, along with writing for my small community's daily paper, lead me to pursue higher education at San Diego State University.

I started at SDSU in the fall of 2003 (yes, I do believe I am the youngest person in our little cohort... It's cool... I'm the baby on my campus, too). I majored in Journalism and Anthropology... Attempting to couple my love for writing with my obsessive curiosity about culture and human behavior. Throughout high school, and much into my collegiate career, I dreamed of writing for National Geographic.

During my sophomore year, in an attempt to get more involved on my massive campus, I applied to be a Resident Advisor. I came from a small town---roughly 20,000 people--and the sheer size of SDSU (in the 30-something-000 range) scared the beejeezus out of me. So, what better way to meet people, make good contacts, get to know my campus, than to work as part of the Residential Education/Student Life program? It was a choice that I can honestly say changed my life forever. I met more amazing people, created stronger relationships and had more defining experiences in my 3 years as an RA than I have in my entire life.

And as my senior year drew to a close, and I was reflecting on my time and experiences at SDSU, I realized that maybe my original pursuits were a little misguided. I majored in journalism because I love to write--that hadn't changed. But i wasn't sure that I wanted to be a journalist anymore. I did a lot of soul searching, and thought about the things that had really made me happy over the past four years, and I came to a conclusion.

I had spent many of my weekends over the course of my 4 years at State volunteering with a local high school, helping coach their debate team. I had taken on countless leadership positions, worked with my peers, problem solved, taught and lead by example and loved every second of it. I decided to take a chance, apply for SDSU's teaching credential program, and see what happened. Afterall, I could always start applying for reporting jobs... I didn't need any additional schooling for that... But if I wanted to teach, more work had to be done. And it was best to do that work while my parents were still footing the bill. Ha.

And so I enrolled in the Single Subject Teaching Credential Program, with the intention of teaching English. Never, ever, ever, ever in my wildest dreams did I even fathom the possibility that I could combine both teaching AND journalism into one magnificent job-gasm.

My credential program wrapped up in the Spring of 2007, and the job market was dismal. I was still working for housing at SDSU, I had applied at everywhere from diners, to clothing stores, to Petco Park. I told myself that I could always hang out and sub for a year, make ends meet with other menial jobs, and that I'd get a "real" job eventually.

And then it happened.... The clouds parted, the sun shone, angels sang and a job fell straight from Teacher Heaven and into my lap. Orange Glen High School in Escondido needed a Journalism Advisor and English teacher. Once I came across the job posting, I immediately let my current boss know, while I'd be in the office for the rest of the day, I would not actually be WORKING on anything for her---I was rewriting my cover letter, updating my resume and submitting my application.

I found out later that nearly 160 applied for the job. Very few shared my background in journalism, and I feel very fortunate that my school was willing to take a risk and hire a brand new teacher and hand her a huge responsibility like the school paper.

I quickly found out that the paper was struggling, both financially and in the morale department. The students didn't even know that the old advisor had left, they felt abandoned, and they wanted nothing to do with me, initially. I faced MANY challenges with the staff in the first month of school or so....

...But once we started to produce a respectable product, and campus responded with resounding support, their attitudes started to change. There have been a few power struggles, lots of compromise, but most importantly, lots of growth. I have seen the quality of the paper improve drastically. The students have become thoughtful and insightful. They are proud of their work, and the campus is proud of the product that they put out.

The Musket received second place recognition in a recent national awards contest. One of my seniors will be pursuing a degree in journalism from Pepperdine. One of returning staff members was just accepted into a selective journalism camp held at Point Loma Nazarene University. It's been a good, successful year. But it's also been exhausting...

...So why not throw a little more responsibility into the mix? As the school year wound down, our yearbook advisor called it quits. After 8 years, he couldn't take the stress, the workload, the drama, anymore. With the success and growth of the Musket in mind, the administration and my department chairs approached me, and questioned my sanity. They wanted to know if I would be willing to advise both publications.

And I jumped at the chance. From reading many other people's bios, I know that I am not alone in this effort. I'm slightly overwhelmed at the idea of managing both the yearbook and the newspaper, but I'm also excited. I loved working for both when I was in high school, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

Now that I've droned on for far too long, I hope everyone has a general understanding of where I'm coming from and what I bring to the table. Brevity has never been my forte, and I apologize. But if you made it this far, you're a trooper!