I joined the staff here at The Shield last semester as an incoming freshman. I really didn’t have any idea what I’d be doing or who I’d be working with, I just wanted something to do. After a few weeks of learning how things operated, how to write my stories and how to stay on top of things, working became the best part of my time.

Getting to write meant I always had something to do, and I was never bored. It also helped me stay on top of my schoolwork and stay organized. In December, I was asked to step into the role of lifestyle editor. I had a lot of worries. I kept asking myself, “Will I be able to keep up with the work?” “What if I fall behind in my courses?” “What if I’m unable to get things written in time?” All those worries went away quickly once I started acting as editor.

Working for The Shield has helped me in many aspects, academically and socially. My writing improved a lot, and I’ve also been able to put words to paper a lot easier, something that has helped a lot when having to write papers.

My time management has also gotten a lot better. Juggling school work and shield work, along with having another job made me much better at prioritizing my time and getting things done on time, without sacrificing quality.

Working with the other staff at The Shield has been the best team I’ve ever gotten the chance to work with so far. We all have a lot of fun and are really able to work together.

I’ve been asked why I joined The Shield, and the best way I can answer would be to quote Bandit from “Smokey and the Bandit,” “For the money, for the glory, and for the fun.” While Bandit then goes on to say, “mostly for the money,” I would have to say mostly for the fun.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t stressful moments. There have been multiple instances when time got the better of me, school work piled up on me and I barely had time to do it, much less my work for The Shield. We power through, though, making a priority list and sticking to it really helped me when I needed it.

Campus life has been lively this year. Pretty much every time I turn around there has been a different event going on that I want to go to. I haven’t been able to cover every event, I haven’t even been to every event I personally wanted to go to, but I try to get out to every one I can – even if it is just to get some free stickers – and I always have a lot of fun.

At the time of writing this I’ve gotten to work on 19 different stories for The Shield, 18 of which have my name credited and one staff collective piece. Some of my favorites that I’ve gotten to write are my monthly life calendars. They’re a lot of fun for me to make and I love being able to put information about these events.

I’ve had a lot of fun working for The Shield, and I am excited to continue my time and for what next school year will bring for me to get to write about. It’s been a wonderful experience and I’m so happy to have been given the opportunity to work here not only as a writer but also as an editor.