Looking back on my childhood, I remember how I never wanted to go to school and how I was so fearful of what life looked like outside of the shell I built. This led to an extreme decline in my mental health and truly took the life out of me until I started college. During my first semester at UTEP, I finally started to feel real, like my life was fully ahead of me. Even though I went through immense heartbreak and lost myself throughout the journey, I still had hope that everything would fall into place.
The Prospector was never a place I thought I would be at, let alone be running the team as editor-in-chief. My seemingly hopeless dream of becoming a journalist finally came true because of The Prospector. I applied back in 2022 and was hired as a contributor. After stepping into my first budget, I let fear get the best of me and quit. After taking my first journalism class with Dr. Pineda, I decided that at the end of the semester I would re-apply to Student Media and finally give myself a chance.
I was re-hired, and I finally stepped into the world of journalism with a newfound confidence that has brought me here today. From being a staff reporter to wearing the hat of various editor positions; multimedia, web & copy, and arts and culture, I finally finished my run as editor-in-chief.
My hard work and dedication would not have existed without the help of my family. I want to thank my mom for helping me through everything. You saw me go through a lot and stuck with me to succeed. I am very lucky to call you my mom and even my best friend. To my brother, I hope I am making you proud. Thank you for being my inspiration as to why I went into journalism in the first place. My success sprouts from both of your endless support.
To my mentors Kate Gannon, Alfredo Corchado, Angela Kocherga, Alyson Rodriguez and Aaron Montes, thank you so much for guiding me through the beast of journalism. Because of you, I have a very bright future. I am so incredibly grateful to have learned from such amazing and talented journalists. I promise I will go on and save the world.
To all my friends: Alyda, Catching, Albert, Sofia, Gael, Ximena, Iziah, Sebastian, Evelyn, Joseph and basically everyone on my team–thank you so much for sticking by me these last few semesters. It’s amazing that I get to call you my friends. Shoutout to my friends Anyer Calderon and Nelson Ortega for also always supporting me and never forgetting about me. Thank you to my roommates Jazmine and Johana for being so supportive and my little sisters.
Marco, my best friend since kindergarten, thank you so much for being the reason I felt accepted in the world of journalism. You truly mean the world to me, and I am so glad we found a way back to each other. I love you Marcitos.
I also want to thank my amazing partner, Emmanuel Rivas. You have guided me so much throughout my journey as a journalist and in life. I am so happy that we get to tackle the world of journalism side by side. I would not want to be anywhere else unless it is with you.
Lastly, to the readers. It has been an amazing experience creating content for you. So, to all of you who are dedicated readers, thank you, and please continue to support local journalism.
Thank you to The Prospector for a memorable two and a half years. It was an awesome ride, and I would definitely do it all over again.
Avery Escamilla-Wendell is the editor-in-chief at The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected]
