Letter From the Editor

Madison Smith | Editor

I’ve spent 17 years of my life thinking I’d be an English teacher. It never felt like a dream or passion of mine, but a fine job. I’ve always liked writing and didn’t know of any writing careers besides an author or an English teacher. Naturally I knew an author was unrealistic, so I landed on the ladder.

I remember walking into my advisor’s office last spring for course selections and just signing up for every reading and writing class possible, since I knew it’s what I loved. I took some traditional academic courses like Women’s Lit and Creative Writing, but then she recommended Journalism. It was briefly explained to me that it would be a different style of writing then I was used to which scared me, but beneficial in the long run to keep me well-rounded. 

At that time last spring, I never could have guessed what that class would have done for me. From the day I wrote my first news story, I knew this is where I belong. I had finally felt that passion and desire that I searched for in my years of talking about teaching. 

Today, I’m lucky enough to be an editor and awaiting my start to a Journalism program in New York City, a total pivot from where I thought I’d be at this time, and all of my thanks go to Professor Heimann and The Paw Print.  I’ve seen great work from this semester’s journalism students thus far and I really hope they enjoy being a staff writer as much as I did. I want to thank them for their hard work, and thank you for reading. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this semester has in store for us.