There are many pleasures of this job, but the biggest one is the people I get to meet and associate with on a daily basis.
My week is basically broken down into sections based on the days of the week. Since The Columbian-Progress is a twice weekly paper with Thursday being the only time we have a true sports section, my duties as Sports Editor vary greatly based on the day.
From Friday until Tuesday, I am solely focused on the sports action around the county. We send our Thursday paper to print on Tuesday, so once it is sent, I have to change modes. For Wednesday and Thursday, I have to switch gears into being a regular reporter.
I rarely deal with any of the breaking news — only when I am the only reporter available when it breaks, which is maybe once a month — so I mostly focus on the extra stuff that fills our newspaper’s pages for the Saturday section.
This entails the weekly “Business Feature and “On the Streets” section and the bi-weekly “Senior Spotlight,” “Professional Profile” and “Editorial Column.”
When I’m focused on the sports section for the Thursday edition, I only really associate with coaches and players, who rarely change from week to week. The only time the people change is when one sport ends and another begins.
But this is completely different for me for the Saturday edition of the newspaper. For the various aforementioned components, every week is completely different from the one before it.
The nature of the “On the Streets” section requires me to talk to a bunch of random people I’ve never met before as I walk around downtown Columbia until five of them say yes to answering my question. I have met a lot of people this way and have even met some people that turned into friends of mine.
The “Business Feature” requires me to speak to a local business owner or manager about their business, which has led me to find various stores I frequently visit now that I never would have noticed just driving down the road. It has even led me to a handful of free meals at local restaurants, which is always a plus.
For the “Professional Profile,” I get to sit down and get to know various people around the county, which is always a plus as a reporter. Establishing that connection is beneficial in many ways because many of the things we cover come from word of mouth.
While the “Senior Spotlight” on its surface may not seem to be as beneficial or rewarding considering I interview people at least three times my age, it actually is one of my favorite things to do for work. The readers of The Columbian-Progress only get to see what the spotlighted individual says to the various questions, but many times I end up talking to them for far longer than the interview itself requires. The stories I’ve been told and the lessons I’ve learned from these people are incredible sometimes. Because of my age, a lot of these spotlighted individuals view me like they do their grandchildren, which makes for what I find to be very rewarding conversation.
Through my various duties that come along with my job, either through the sports section or the multitude of aspects of the paper I’m tasked with, I get to connect with so many people in the area. Since I’m not from around here nor had I ever been to Columbia before I interviewed for the job, I came here without knowing anybody.
In 11 short months, I have been able to get to know a lot of people in the area that I otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to meet if I wasn’t a newspaper reporter. I have had the distinct honor of getting to know many of you and as anyone in Columbia would tell you, the people here are like no other.
I realize that there are still many of you I don’t know, but I’m sure one way or another my job will lead me to cross paths with the people I haven’t met yet, which I can promise I’m looking forward to.
