ampersand

WRITER, EDITOR, RECRUITeR

Entering my first year at the University of Georgia, I knew I wanted to pursue journalism. And yet, it took until March for me to build up enough courage to trek up Baxter Street and enter the offices of The Red & Black, UGA's independent student newspaper. After the recruitment process (which was much less rigorous than I had anticipated), I found myself as the newest Staff Writer for Ampersand, The Red & Black's rag-tag magazine publication. 

The next few months were a crash course in journalism; I was brainstorming story ideas, searching for sources, talking journalistic ethics and memorizing AP style long before I'd be accepted into the school of journalism. I was writing and writing and writing and at the end of that year, I was promoted to Senior Editor—a position usually reserved for, well, a senior.

For hours on end, I would sit in a booth at my local coffee shop: editing articles, checking word counts, and talking down my frantic, frazzled writers. As Senior Editor, I learned that the only thing I might love more than being a writer was being around other writers. So the next year, I returned as Recruitment Editor to do just that (and to finally fix that recruitment process). 

I worked really hard and made hardly any money, but my time at Ampersand was a gift in itself. It gave me an excuse to get out and explore my new city; it taught me to how to talk to strangers and it forced me to ask them better questions; it allowed me to see what was possible when a group of people cared about the work just as much as they cared about each other.