For the past two years I’ve been given the opportunity to work at a place that I considered my home, refuge and most of all, a place to test my future comedy act on fellow co-workers. Although the comedy aspect has not gone as well as I would have expected, I guess becoming a good writer is enough of a consolation prize. Which for me, is still astonishing mainly because I never thought I would have gotten this far.
After this semester I’ll be leaving The Nicholls Worth for another position that still gives me the opportunity to work with sports, just not in the same capacity as a sports editor.
It’s hard to believe this is the last article I’m going to write for The Nicholls Worth. I honestly believed I would have continued to work here until I graduated (one year, 25 days, 6 hours and 48 minutes for everybody playing the home game).
I remember the first time I stepped foot into the Student Publications office during the summer of 2005. I had no formal training in writing for newspapers, and I was still unsure if I was even going to stay at Nicholls for any longer than one semester.
Walking into Tonya Danos’ office, I already had it set in my mind that I wasn’t getting the job because I didn’t have enough experience. By the time I left not only did I have the job, but I was also given the sports writer position, instead of being named a reporter.
Basically that first semester was scripted just like the new show on FX “The Riches”. (Except without the random crazy FX fight or sex scene that really has nothing to do with the show but was put in for shock value.) I was basically working having no earthly idea about how to do it right, but somehow made it look like I did.
From then on, everything seemed to fit perfectly with my idea of what college was supposed to be, late nights, hard work and temporary satisfaction. What can I say, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
A year and a half and countless articles later, I hope I’ve become not only a journalist, but a story teller and advocate as well. Some of the best and most enjoyable stories I’ve written have been about people rather than places or events.
One specific date however will always stick out in my mind as the single most poingnent moment in my Nicholls tenure. November 19, 2005.
I hadn’t made many of the football games at John L. Guidry Stadium that year until the overtime thriller against Texas State drew me in as a legitimate Colonel fan. I even made the trip the next week to Hammond, as Southeastern and Nicholls started a rivalry I never even knew existed before.
But the McNeese game on the 19th solidified it for me. Everything about the day was exactly what I pictured college football to be. A jittery buzz in the air that was much different than anything Nicholls sports had experienced before. A conference title was within reach, and all that was standing in the way were those pesky Cowboys from Lake Charles.
Eventually McNeese was no competition and the Colonels won 39-26. As the crowd erupted in roar of excitement, everyone, including me, rushed the field to take in the victory as one unit, one university.
That one event, along with countless others I’ve experienced was one of the ultimate reasons why I decided to stay at Nicholls. Something about this place was right, and I knew I had to be here.
To the countless people who helped me along the way, I cannot thank you enough for the support and help that got me through the rough times, although I may not have shown it.
I hope the one thing I’ve shown is sometimes the road to get where you want isn’t always straight, but as long as we grow along the journey, the finish line will be more rewarding than we can possibly imagine.
