Confucius once said that the will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.

Now that my time with the Union is coming to a close, I realize reaching my full potential with the Union has opened up doors for me that weren’t there before.

When I look back at my last two semesters as editor-in-chief, I can pinpoint every step that helped me get to being one semester away from transferring to a four-year university.

It started with a Facebook message from my adviser Kate McLaughlin asking me if I was coming back to the student media staff and that the Union needed some good people.

I spent a few semesters on the publication before briefly leaving to work.

After that message I found myself back in the newsroom in spring of 2013. At the end of the semester, I remember chasing down Thomas Schmit, my editor-in-chief at the time, walking down Crenshaw Boulevard and stopping him to tell him I wanted to take over the sports pages.

That began another journey where I decided to fulfill my desire to make the sports pages the best.

All my work paid off when I won first place in the sports story competition at that semester’s Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) convention.

After doing everything I could with the sports pages, which included an interview with former EC football player Kenbrell Thompkins, who is now in the NFL playing for the Oakland Raiders, I decided there was only one more step for me to take: editor-in-chief.

My time as editor-in-chief was one that would teach me the most during my last chapter with “The Union” which included a trip to New York City for the first time and bonding with my editorial board that I will not forget.

My time leading a staff of almost 50 student journalists allowed me to work closely with different personalities and ideas and move them together in one direction with one purpose.

The semester for me would be a success when “The Union” newspaper and ECCUnion.com both achieved General Excellence at this semester’s JACC.

That brings me to where I am now, fall 2014. As “The Union” begins its transition into a new digital era with new advisers and students I find myself handing the torch off to my co-editor-in-chief Jessica Martinez to uphold “The Union” way.

I also find myself learning that even though things in the newsroom aren’t always easy with conflicting personalities and that it’s all about approach to situation that can change responses.

I’ve fulfilled my full potential with “The Union” and look forward to watching the new era of “The Union” writers reach theirs.

I’d also like to thank a few people that have helped me along my journey to to succeed and achieve everything I set my mind to.

So, thank you Kate McLaughlin, Stefanie Frith, Eric Hsieh, Russell Lewis, Nadia Basich, Sebastian Spencer, Jean-Paul Udeh, John Fordiani, Thomas Schmit, Jessica Martinez, Lorilynn Lomeli, Angela Yim, and Amira Petrus.