WHERE DO YOU PICTURE YOURSELF IN FOUR YEARS…

a story of jobs past and present

A group of high school journalists came to our station for a tour today. They all crammed into our newsroom for our morning meeting at 9:07. They were students from the local high school who write for the newspaper or do video production. My boss asked them what they all wanted to do, if they wanted to go into journalism or not. About five of the 30 students raised their hands to say, “yes I see my self in the news business.” For the other 25 they had no clue what they wanted to do for a career. Which made me wonder, where did I picture myself in the future when I was in high school? If someone had told me four years ago that I would be working for a TV station hundreds of miles from home, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. Really.

When I was in high school the farthest place I wanted to go to college was BYU. That way I could live at home and commute to Provo. I thought this was the best plan because I would save money and never have to grow up. The farthest away I planned on working was Salt Lake City. I didn’t have high hopes for far away dreams.

Four years ago during my senior year of high school I had just started my first job outside of working for my parents. I worked at Eatza Pizza. It’s a pizza buffet place if you didn’t know. What drew me to the job was the t-shirts they wore. They looked cool. Sad to admit, that’s what I base my judgments about most things on, appearance. Does it look comfortable or not. I didn’t worry about the long hours, smelling like pizza everyday, or gaining weight from eating my favorite chicken alfredo pizza on my 15 minute breaks. Nor did I worry about only earning minimum wage.
Boy was I dumb.

I quit that job within six months and got a job at another pizza place, Domino’s. I worked there FOREVER! – The rest of high school and then summers for my first two years of college. I got to know the place really well. I actually liked going to work and working hard. I learned how to do everything there, except how to deliver pizzas. Even when I turned 21 and was old enough to deliver, and could have taken a pay raise, I didn’t. I stayed inside smelling like pepperoni pizza and melted cheese.

My last summer there I told everyone I wasn’t going to be back for my junior year summer because I was going to get a newspaper internship somewhere. I did get an internship, but not too far away, Roosevelt, Utah two hours from my home town and 30 minutes from Vernal. Wow! I would have never pictured that in high school. I met some great people out there and got used to working for a weekly paper. But it was easy to like it because I was only there for the summer. I wrote some fun stories about a local taxidermist, another about road kill and one about a man who dresses up as Teddy Roosevelt as a career. Good times in Roosevelt.

My final semester of school in Logan, Utah was a great one, I got close to the best grades I’d ever received. All of my homework was combined into one messy folder, and I skipped class more than I ever did during all of college. I worked two jobs, one at the school newspaper and one videotaping the athletic events, and I produced newscasts for aggie television while running media for the LDS Institute. I was busy and I loved it.

Around November I thought I should start applying for REAL jobs. I didn’t want to travel too far, but I was willing to travel out of state. At a football game against Boise State I met some people from a Boise production crew. They seemed pretty nice and told me that I would have a good shot in the business. I liked their attitude and so when a job opening in Boise came up, I applied.

One month later I was interviewing for the job and one month after that I moved into my house in Idaho and was being trained on the job. I would have never guessed I would be bopping along in a major TV station. I almost pinch myself everyday as I skip through the hallways of our station like a little elementary student at school. I don’t’ feel anywhere close to qualified for the job, yet here I am.

So, if you asked me today where I picture myself in four years, I can safely say, I have no idea. I don’t plan too far into the future, mostly just four months. By this summer I’m sure I’ll be sick of this job and wishing I could go on an African Safari or something, but all I can imagine for my future now is hopefully get off of this crazy night shift in a year and moving on to bigger and better things… and possibly more experiences with amazing people.