When you graduate high school, if you desire to go to college then you know what your next step in life is, but after you graduate college unless you have something lined up right away, it may be the first time in your life that you do not know what is next, and that is where I am at in my life.  

I am unsure of what the next step is, but I am sure it is just the next part of the journey. A journey that I feel extremely lucky to have intertwined with the University of Texas at El Paso and The Prospector.  

My journey  began when I read my first book and watched my very first movie. I remember being impressed with how transportive they each were, even at a young age. While I cannot say I knew I wanted to be a storyteller then, it was something that I feel was engrained in my mind from that moment on. It was not until I started my journey at UTEP that I was fully able to realize that storytelling was the pathway I wanted to take.  

Although my time at UTEP was not a normal one due to COVID-19, the multimedia journalism program helped me express my desire for storytelling in multiple ways. I got to learn from professors who have years of experience in the journalism field and I was able to pick up skills and techniques that I will use for the rest of my career.  

As college students or students of anything for that matter, we have a vast knowledge of how stressful class can be when you have a substantial amount of work, incredibly high-weight exams or short deadlines. I sure could complain a lot about it, but if I could do it all over again and make the experience any easier, I would not because I would be doing a disservice to myself. Although it did not seem like it at the time, those hard times were helping prepare me for the future and I feel all the better for it now. 

If I have one regret in my college career, it would be not joining The Prospector sooner. In the short time I was a part of it, I was able to put what I learned in class to use, and I was able to work with and learn from some of the most talented and brilliant people whom I am excited to see what the future has in store for.  

I still remember the first time my name was published on a story. My parents and I were excited to see something that I had worked on and that was a feeling I will never forget. While it is my regret I did not join sooner, I am sure glad that I decided to turn in the application and join. It will always be a point of my life I look back fondly at and will not take for granted. When I find success in my career, I will owe that success to The Prospector and the incredible people there.  

Four years go by in the blink of an eye, it feels like it was just yesterday that I was at my UTEP new student orientation. The cliché thing to say is that you should savor every moment because you can never get it back. I for one have heard that a lot and I always find when you are in the moment, that is not what you want to hear. Once you get out of that moment, however, you realize that you should have savored it. So, I am going to say the cliché thing and tell you to savor each and every moment, whether you are in college or not, because it truly goes by quicker than you think .  

Joel Molina is a photographer and may be reached at [email protected].