During my first week as a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts, I went into the activities expo with one goal in mind: find a club that I would love and stick with until I graduated. I ended up leaving the expo having signed up for four different clubs. I have stayed with three of those clubs to this day—Her Campus at UMass, the UMass Theatre Guild and the Massachusetts Daily Collegian.

I didn’t even really know what I wanted to do at the Collegian, but I knew I wanted to get involved. I started by signing up to write for the arts section and started receiving the emails every week with the article pitches. About twice a semester, I would pick up an article to write and have published. Fast forward to the beginning of my fall semester junior year, I saw a graphic on Facebook from the Collegian that said they were looking to hire a social media assistant. I immediately emailed Serena McMahon with my resume and cover letter (now looking back, I definitely should’ve worked harder on the application). Before I knew it, I was hired and immediately loved it. During my time at the Collegian, I learned three lessons: 1. Nothing is easy, 2. Work hard and it will maybe get easier and 3. Take every chance you get.

To all of the soon-to-be freshmen or sophomores: Take every opportunity that comes your way. If one of your floormates mentions an internship or an on-campus job, apply. You will never know if you don’t apply. There’s absolutely no risk in just trying. If anything, you’ll be proud of yourself for just getting out there.

And to the Collegian, thank you.

Chloe Trepanier was a social media assistant and can be reached at [email protected].