When I first started at El Camino College during the fall of 2017, my main focus was to take the quickest route to transfer. I missed many opportunities that could’ve helped me grow as a person because of this.

During my first semester, I was still unsure with what I was going to major in so I took general education classes that are required to be able to transfer. I had interests in certain things but I never pursued them since I did not like the idea of wasting time.

I decided that I would eventually find out what to major in, and put it off to the side for the time being.

By the end of my first year, I was almost done with all of my general education classes, but I still had no idea what I wanted to major in. At that point, I realized that I would not have the quickest way out, so I chose a major off of instinct: photography.

I have been shooting photos for around 6 years now and being self-taught, I was confident that I would be able to continue my passion by studying it in school. However, there were many significant doubts that came up after choosing my major.

What would I do after I graduate? Would I be able to find a job? Would it be a steady job? The list went on and on.

During this time, I was enrolled in Journalism 1, as one of my last elective courses. It was in this class where I learned about the opportunity to become a photography intern for The Union. I figured that this opportunity would be perfect to test my photographic skills.

In this class, we briefly went over the topic of photojournalism, which immediately piqued my interest. I was familiar with photojournalism, but I never had any intentions to pursue that path because I took photography as a hobby in the past.

As soon as I started researching more about the career path, I knew that it was what I aspired to do. I then changed my major and made a course plan that would fulfill my pre-requisites for it.

With the fall semester coming to a close, I submitted my applications and got my classes for the spring of 2019.

After taking Journalism 1, I decided that I wanted to become a staff writer for The Union, as well as a photographer for them as well. This semester, I was able to do just that. I realize now that I should’ve been in The Union earlier, and that I should’ve taken more opportunities that were presented to me.

Before, I focused too much on trying to get my classwork done and transferring out. I never stopped to notice any clubs, ignored the emails that shared information on workshops and events, and never picked up the school paper.

After being a part of the Union, I am exposed to all kinds of events that happen around campus. Also as a representative for Beta Phi Gamma (the journalism club), I’ve had the opportunity to go to ICC meetings every week to witness the contributions of the clubs around campus.

It’s been such a privilege for me to experience all of these opportunities whether they were taken or not.

If there’s one piece of advice I could give to any student right now, it’d be to just stop and look around.

Maybe it’s good to stop and admire the view every once in a while. Life’s always moving and if you focus on moving forward too much, you could miss the moments that make it.