On a crisp fall day in 2009, I was writing my first article for The Communicator. I was nervous, but I was mostly excited.

That rough, grammatically imperfect story about construction helped launch my time in journalism, eventually landing me as Editor in Chief. From there, I transferred to the University of Idaho where I graduated with a journalism degree. I had stints at The Moscow-Pullman Daily News and The Lewiston Tribune. Now, I work at The Spokesman-Review.

Nearly a decade after my first steps at SFCC, I’m back. Buildings have sprung up (some a result of the construction I wrote on years ago), but the canopy of trees are the same: unforgettable.  

When my past adviser Jason Nix pushed me to apply as adjunct adviser of the paper, I felt those freshmen nerves again. But as I was hired, and day by day, those nerves dissolve as I see the excitement in my students’ eyes. It’s a familiar feeling. To be the voice of campus. To see a first article published, in ink, permanent.

As we celebrate the 50th year, please remember journalists are vitally important to this campus and they, like myself, all have to start somewhere. So let’s hold strong to be sure that “somewhere,” The Communicator, exists in another 50 years.