It’s not often that reporters get a swan song, so I’m grateful for the opportunity to say goodbye. Dear reader, next issue will be my last one with the King City Rustler and Salinas Valley Tribune.
You’ll see me out there collecting news and photos for one last week, and it looks like the King City Chamber of Commerce Awards will be the final event I cover. And then it’s off to new adventures.
I’m heading back to the classroom after a break from my path toward becoming an educator. Before I signed on with the paper at the beginning of 2020, I’d completed my B.A. with a major in English education at CSUMB, and was figuring out what grade level I wanted to teach before going after my teaching credential.
Working in news has been an interesting break from that journey. There was no way of predicting the turmoil that was the pandemic and the wild and horrible effects it would have on our communities.
But the longer time went on, the more I remembered my original goal with teaching. I’ve enjoyed a lifelong interest in writing, and I wanted to help foster that, whether it be art-focused or career-aimed, in the classroom. If I could get students to enjoy the process of writing, I’d consider my efforts a success.
We live in an era where marketing is one of the most-desired skills in business, and specifically within that category is a strong need for copywriters. I’d like to be there to encourage young minds toward such careers or even in the opposite direction of honing their artistic gifts to create wondrous poetry or novels. Who knows what the brilliant minds in our local classrooms are capable of?
I’ll also be out there getting portraits and taking video or photos of events, this time for clients rather than in a journalism-related capacity. So if you know of someone looking for a senior portrait photographer or a wedding videographer, consider sending them my way.
The other members of the newspaper staff, Ryan, Sheryl, Gail, Jon and Jeanie, will still be there. And I’d like to publicly say I’m going to miss all of them! Just as I’ll miss the communities I got to report on and all the amazing people I’ve gotten to meet while learning their stories.
Now it’s time to get ready to run. I think the bell’s about to ring.
