News reporters have to become experts on science, farming, crime and the administration in a matter of days. But, they also have to have the sensitivity to talk to a passionate protester or a grieving mother, uncovering most things that one shouldn’t and never will, leaving myself and a lot of others to think, “I didn’t sign up for this.”

I started at The Daily Evergreen in September 2016. I was a rugby player in a room full of writers and had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. As a senior reporter, I still feel this way.

I ran around for the first month or so like a chicken with its head cut off. However, I guess my gutsy attitude impressed my editor and I became the crime reporter shorty after.

As the crime reporter, I made phone calls all day every day, waking up from naps to the ringing of my phone and making calls in between drills at practice. I got into a rhythm quickly, but nothing prepared me for writing obituaries.

About two months into writing for the newspaper, WSU student Brock Lindberg died of acute intoxication. Seeing as none of the current staff had written about a death before, I was chosen for the job. Within days of his death, I had to speak with his friends and his mother, which became one of the most painful and rewarding experiences of my life. I still talk to his mother to this day.

From then on, I became the go-to reporter for obituaries, in addition to crime and general news as a senior reporter.

I have sometimes let life happen to me and I missed out on impactful stories. I had a concussion, a broken hip and suffered from extreme anxiety at times. Because of this, there were times when I really didn’t want to go report. But when I did, it ended up changing my life. Through talking with farmers, students and police officers, I’ve discovered it isn’t about the byline, it’s about the people.

It’s the people you write about directly or indirectly, the experiences they share and the impact you create by uncovering and raising a megaphone to people who might not have been heard otherwise.

I’ve doubted myself time and time again, thinking I wasn’t good enough. I was just a rugby player who wrote on the side.

And now, as I leave the Evergreen, I’d like to think that maybe I’ve had an impact in informing, entertaining, helping people mourn, bringing people together and igniting them to create change in their own lives and community.