In With the New

As is evident in the amount of time between my last post (on August 29th) and this post (on December 31st), Fall 2008 was an incredibly busy time for me.

On the eve of the new year, I can't help but reflect on 2008. One of the biggest skills I learned to master this year was time management. Somehow I managed being the president of my sorority chapter, being managing editor of my school's life and style magazine for women, editor-in-chief of a newsletter, and an intern for Rivals.com. I also worked, was a member of various clubs on campus, and of course stayed focused academically, ending the semester with a 3.72 GPA. And still managed to maintain a social and personal life. So I think it's safe to say I've got the whole time management thing down.

But mastering this level of high-stress time management also comes with mastering balance, which I think I struggled with more so than the actual management of time. Balancing between each aspect of my life and allotting the right amount of time and attention to each and prioritizing got difficult at times. I often had complaints from family members that I didn't call them enough or from friends that I didn't have time for them. But at the end of the day, I knew that I was making the right decisions and doing what was best for me. And I believe it paid off.

Earlier this month I found out I was selected as a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Intern. Anybody who is in the realm of communications knows that this is the most competitive and most prestigious internship in copy editing there is. I was placed at the San Francisco Chronicle, so after a two-week training session at the University of Texas in May, after graduation I will be heading out to San Francisco. A move to the West Coast is daunting yet exciting, but the fact that not only was I chosen but I was placed at a large, award-winning newspaper gives me an describable sense of self-pride, and I can't help but be hopeful that this internship will open a lot of doors for me.