To whomever it may concern…

Only about four and a half months, that’s the full amount of time that I was at The Prospector. While my time was considerably short, I feel that this job had a significant impact on me.

I still remember when I submitted my application to Student Media and Publications. I received a notification from my student email; applied and had forgotten about it for a while. After my interview for a staff reporter position, I was brought onto the team.

When I first stepped into the office, I remember the feelings of doubt and uncertainty taking over, I’ve always struggled with my self confidence in my work and wasn’t sure if the caliber of my writing could measure up.

But through my time at The Prospector, I felt more confident about the work I produced and believe that this job has given me so much help in that regard. Before the semester had begun, I held doubts about what I wanted to pursue and where I wanted to be after my time at UTEP.

This job though, has given me a new perspective of journalism and opportunities for it, lighting a fire within me, giving me the passion of wanting to be a journalist once again. I even got to travel to another city to attend a journalism workshop with friends, giving me more inspiration and drive to make this type of work my career.

I have loved every second of this job, and I’m now looking toward my future. I am applying for real world positions to continue this line of work that has brought me so much joy. This field has also taught me immensely, not only about myself and my strengths, but about others as well.

While the job has aided me in figuring out what I want from my career and future, I can also say that this job has truly been a blessing for me through the connections and friends who made the workplace something truly special.

A job is only one aspect of student life, and this wasn’t the only job I had during the semester. On top of this I dealt with my final classes, which turned out to be quite the workload, and finally my personal life as well. All students go through juggling these many aspects, but at times everything became incredibly overwhelming for me.

One thing that helped was coming into the office Tuesday and Thursday week after week. Seeing my friends and simply sharing moments together felt special. Something as simple or mundane as discussing what homework was due for a class we shared or eating lunch together–each moment at The Prospector office was something to be cherished.

Production days, while long and stressful at times, were some of my favorite days in the office. Having random talks, sharing more with each other or even playing games of poker to pass the time, maybe a random outing to Chili’s as well, made for such great times.

At the time of writing this my life is going through a pretty major change. One that has affected me immensely, but I consider myself very lucky and am extremely grateful for the friends I have made through this job. The support given from these close friends has been an incredible help, the people of The Prospector are some of the nicest, most caring and easiest people to talk to.

That is what I will miss most about this job, the people–the friends I’ve made.

I would like to thank everyone from The Prospector, every editor, staff member and contributor. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making this last semester of my university life something truly special, working with all of you has been incredible.

Thank you Avery, Sofia, Catching, Alyda and Ximena for an incredible trip to San Antonio for the IRE workshop. The trip was one of the best parts of my last semester and I am truly grateful to have spent it with you all.

Finally, I want to thank Jes Garcia and Kristian Hernandez. We all came to work for The Prospector at the same time, we were all shy and nervous when we first got to the office, but I believe that starting together is what made our friendship so strong.

You two have been some of my biggest supporters throughout the semester inside the office and out. Thank you for always reading my articles over, helping me with video production, making everything a three-person job and just being some of the best friends I could ever have. The moral support from you both was always a blessing. You two are some of the most incredible and talented people I have ever met, I love you both.

This job didn’t quite turn out how I expected it would, it has been such a major blessing for me and helped shape me into who I am now at the end of my college life.

Best regards, Joe.

Joseph Montero is a staff reporter for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected]