Written by: Matthew Orquia
I started my time at the Accent as a shy, scared kid who had no idea what he was doing. Even my (now ex) best friend, the Oxford comma, was taken away from me.
Over time, I got more comfortable and started learning the ropes; the core parts of my job became more familiar, and I started to see how important journalism was to this campus and this community.
Watching community members and professors pick up copies of the Accent and hearing students talk about the stories in the paper was so exciting to me once I started working for the paper. It made me realize that all the effort and time we poured into stories really did matter.
The appreciation I have for journalism has only grown during my time at the Accent, where I’ve had the pleasure of watching the two previous Accent editors, Alana Crosby and Amanda Blake, diligently strive to create a newspaper that serves as a voice for Southern’s students and community. Their example, along with the guidance of Accent adviser Alva James-Johnson, has been and continues to be invaluable in my efforts to better understand what it means to be a journalist and a leader.
I am especially grateful for the leadership of Amanda during the past year. I aspire to be the level of journalist that she has proven herself to be, and I am constantly impressed by her ability to lead. I also need to thank Professor Johnson for seeing a shy, scared kid in her class and believing that I had a future as a journalist. I will continue to pursue that goal, and I will always appreciate her faith in me.
My goals for the Accent next year are for us to continue establishing ourselves as a trusted news source in Collegedale, to represent the constantly growing student body and to publish stories that people care about. None of that will be possible without an excellent team, which I look forward to building and working with.
I’ve learned a lot in the past few years, but I’ve also discovered that over time a shy, scared kid can eventually become a slightly less shy, still scared kid.
Despite what I know will be a difficult path ahead of me, I am excited for the opportunity to continue the tradition of the Accent and will strive to meet the standards set by the hard work and dedication of previous Accent staff.
