Growing up in Kansas was not as bad as it sounds to most people. In fact, compared to college friends that were raised in large cities, I think a had a storybook childhood. My summers were spent at neighborhood pools, block parties, and in the yard catching fireflies. During the winter, we had plenty of snow days full of snowball fights and my brother and I were able to make our favorite treat: snow topped with maple syrup. I have nothing but fond memories of my hometown, the small school I attended, and the warm community I grew up in. However, as I got older, my aspirations grew with me, a phenomenon that didn't exactly occur in most of my classmates. As I developed dreams of becoming a lawyer or a Supreme Court justice, my friends didn't think much further than what they could do within the state's borders. So when it came time to apply for college, I knew I wanted to go somewhere where ambition was abundant and there were no limits to the careers or opportunities available to me.
I thought a lot about going to law school and becoming a lawyer when I was in high school. I did Mock Trial and was fairly good at it, and, since I didn't know what else I wanted to do, turning law into a career seemed like a pretty good option. I abruptly changed my mind during my junior year, however, after watching a CNN documentary called "Beneath the Veil."In this documentary, journalist Saira Shah went undercover as an Afghan woman to expose the atrocities committed against the women who live there. Along with my own interest in the issue, her passion for the topic and the artistry with which she told the story moved me immensely. It was then that I was inspired to become a journalist.
When senior year came around, the only journalism school I knew of was the University of Missouri's School of Journalism because so many people from my high school went there. However, my college counselor insisted that I look at schools farther from home and told me to do some research on USC's Annenberg Scool of Journalism. I barely knew anything about USC, but I was excited about the suggestion because I knew that I loved LA. After reading a bit about USC and Annenberg, I was in love and scheduled a visit so I could tour the school. Fast-forward three years, and here I am.
When I started at USC, I wanted to be a foreign correspondent. In fact, I'm fairly certain one of my essays for USC about wanting to report from a war-torn country played a large role in my admittance. However, I quickly became much more interested in political reporting. I have been extremely involved in Annenberg Media's political coverage, and I am now leading the platform in charge of all of the Media Center's political stories. Eventually, I hope to be an embedded correspondent on a presidential campaign. However, my desire to go to law school has not completely faded, despite my ambitions as a budding journalist. Along with being a political correspondent, I also think it would be fulfilling to be a legal analyst, similar to Savannah Guthrie or even Megyn Kelly.
My reasons for wanting to be a journalist have not changed since I first fell in love with the field as a high school student. I want to share the stories of others to encourage compassion and sympathy among those who do not understand how much of the world lives. I want to be responsible for keeping the public informed with accurate and honest information about the state of their country's politics and leaders. And I want to play a role in proving that "the media" is not evil and that being a journalist is one of the most important professions there is.
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