Politics: How I ended up in Minnesota

I haven’t been walking this earth for many years, especially compared to my elders, but one thing that I have had a vast amount of experience with is politics.
I took my first political science course in college in the fall of 2013, as a freshman (I feel old), and ever since, I have had a passion about politics.
After four years of school and well over 60 credits in political science courses, I received my degree almost two years ago.
While some may wonder why I chose the journalism route fresh out college instead of going into politics, the answer is simple.
Being in journalism gives me the opportunity to help advance our democracy, something that I am most passionate about.
While studying political science, I took a variety of different courses related to government.
Some of these things included courses in foreign affairs, American government, terrorism, philosophy, research, you name it I probably took it.
While I enjoyed all those courses a lot, there was a couple of courses that I took in school that really put me on the path to end up in Minnesota.
One of the first classes I ever took while I was in college was a course called “The role of the White House Press Secretary.”
This course was a introduction to college class where you got to learn about what it would be like in college while also exploring a broad topic.
This was the first time I had ever been exposed to the world of media directly and I learned a lot.
At the end of the course, my professor, who ran the communications center at my
college, encouraged me to take more political science courses the following semester.
That was some of the best advice I had ever gotten.
After taking intro to political science my first semester, the next semester featured introduction
to international politics and introduction to American politics.
These courses were taught by a very tough professor who expected a
lot from his students, but by a few weeks in the semester, I knew what I wanted to major in.
A few weeks into the semester I made a crucial decision in my life.
I declared as a Political Science major.
After a couple of years of studying Political Science, I signed up for a brand new course that was offered which taught us about political polling and the role the media has when it comes to elections.
Long story short, our school had just formed a partnership with the Boston Herald, and they wanted to have students help them with their political coverage throughout the election season, as we were heading into the fall of 2015 and the election season was heating up.
Before the class began, we were all invited to a summer conference at the school where we learned about polling and a little bit about media.
During that time, I got do a couple of online stories for my college’s online newspaper, and got to interview, Andy Card, who was the president of the college at the time.
After attending the conference, I realIzed I learned a lot, but what I didn’t realize is that it would change my life.
A couple months after the conference, I was asked to write an article about the election for the Boston Herald.
I gladly accepted the task and was told I had only a few hours to put something together.
After doing this, I continued to be a part of the Political Discourse
writing a variety of different articles, shooting videos, appearing on national radio shows, you name it I most likely did it.
During this time, I also was fortunate enough to attend many political events as a credentialed member of the media, including things like national conventions and the Inauguration.
It was during this time that I realized that journalism was something that I am really passionate about.
While some may think my mind was changed after meeting and interviewing a number of famous people or going toe- to-toe with top journalists, that simply isn’t the true reason.
During my traveling the country covering politics, I got to meet a lot of different every day individuals all with a unique story for me to tell.
It was during this time that I realized that I wanted to be able to tell countless stories about every day folks that are important, and likely wouldn’t be known without the power of the media.
When people ask me how I ended up in Minnesota in small towns, that’s how.
It’s because of the important and unique stories that I am passionate about telling.
The election last week was the first “full election” that I have covered or been around in Minnesota. My other experience came during a special election in St. James earlier this year for a State Rep position that was vacated.
What I noticed about politics in Minnesota is that it is very similar to the politics in New England.
While the issues that are being debated are a lot different, and the process of voting and campaigning is a lot different, at the end of the day the most important aspect to politics remain the same.
The people.
At the end of the day whether you support someone or their platform or despise them, politics is all about people doing their best to try to help at the local level or federal level.
Maybe one day I will do something more directly tied to politics, but
for now I’m glad that I can do what I love and that’s telling the important stories in the local community.
And, of course, playing an important role in our democracy.
Thank you as always for allowing me to be a part of your community.