by Tanner Colvin
I am not a journalism major, but for the last three years I have worked for the Tropolitan Newspaper.
I started off as a sportswriter and somehow moved up to being the Sports Editor. This position has given me more skills than some of my major classes, and I am truly grateful for that. The Trop took a big risk by making some kid who had only taken one communication class and had zero knowledge of grammar to be the Sports Editor.
As an incoming freshman, I was a broadcast major. During my IMPACT session I was the only person in the room for journalism majors. Our current Tropolitan advisor, Professor Stefanie East, was there to answer all my questions and told me about the Trop. I was originally interested because of the scholarships available, and I figured it would be a great experience to have before working in broadcasting.
On my first day of college, I was in Introduction to Communication with Professor East. A girl (and I’m going to be honest here) came into our class and gave a quick speech on the Trop and told us about an interest meeting coming up. I don’t remember her name, but she was cute – I was sold on joining the Trop. This is my goodbye, so I just want to be honest.
During that interest meeting I met Hanna Cooper, who was the Sports Editor at the time. Hanna took a chance on me and let an incoming freshman write most of the football stories in the Fall of 2020. I know those stories were terrible just because I had no clue what I was doing, but Hanna always said they were good and encouraged me to keep writing.
In the Fall semester of 2021, I was promoted to the Sports Editor position with absolutely no clue why. I had zero experience in editing stories, no idea what correct grammar looked like and I had also swapped majors. For me, this position was everything.
I was able to create and edit pages to however I saw fit. I loved to have the creative power to make the pages look however I wanted. Coming up with catchy headlines and choosing pictures for the entire university to see was a great responsibility and made me feel important.
My college career has seen very little going out and socializing. Getting to see students and faculty read my stories or see my pages made me feel like I was doing something for the university that was important and had meaning.
I think my freshman year the sports section had two writers and now we have six on staff. I have gotten to be friends with the other students involved. I wanted to do my best to grow the staff as much as possible, so students can use the Trop to their full advantage.
My time at the Trop has come to an end. I think I have gotten as much as I can out of it and it’s time to pass the torch. This position gives so much experience for someone wanting to work in sports journalism that I can’t keep it any longer. My current plan for the future does not have me working in sports journalism or broadcasting. But I am thankful for my time with the Trop. You never know what door will be opened or where you will end up.
Finally, I want to say thank you to everyone who helped me while I worked at the Tropolitan and taught me so much. To Dr. Robbyn Taylor, Professor East and Hanna Cooper, thank you for this position and taking a chance on me. To Emily Mosier, Kris Harrell, and Ansley Miller, you were all a great group of people to work with, and I’m happy I got to work alongside you all. Last, but certainly not least, I have to give a special thanks to my sports writers: Rylee Bamberger, Caleb Thomas, Taylor Fraze, Harrison Glackmeyer, Logan Pittman, and Dylan Seymore; also, a thank you to Braden Chalker and Sam Dooley for their contributions throughout this year. Without you, my job would be impossible to do successfully. So again, I thank you for always getting stories in on time and NEVER ONCE missing a story or putting me in a bind. Goodbye and The End.
