Give Someone a Chance


I owe my career to people who gave me a chance.

As a high schooler, I remember the day a youth group newsletter showed up in the mail—more dorky articles and bad jokes than information—and I jumped at the chance to help create it.

In college, I was so eager to write and be published that when I heard about a magazine that seemed a perfect fit, I reached out immediately and all but begged the editor to let me write for them.

Both were early opportunities to see my name in print, but more importantly a chance to use my skills and be part of creating content, which is what I do today.

It’s so important to get those early opportunities to explore your skills and see what fits.

So I’ve been eager to offer that opportunity. I’ve had interns before, but it’s been a few years (though the door is always open). Since I run a local news site, I’ve been thinking about student journalism. Our local high school doesn’t have a student newspaper anymore, so it makes this whole conversation a little harder. There isn’t an established program or a crop of eager young journalists on call. It’s also a little awkward when you have little experience yourself.

Despite those challenges, we did it anyway. Last week, West St. Paul Reader published its first article by a student reporter. The opportunity just came together and Megan Noggle stepped up and did an amazing job (with little if any journalism experience herself).

It’s exciting to give a student that kind of opportunity. Who knows where it can lead?

I don’t know what’s next, whether this is the first of more student articles or if we’ll try to create a more formal program. But I’m eager to do more.