If you had told the beginning of the fall 2025 semester that I would be an editor at The Prospector, I probably would have laughed. Not because I didn’t care about it, but because I never saw myself stepping into something this big.
Yet here I am.
Sometimes I sit and think about how quickly everything changed. College has a funny way of pushing you into rooms you never imagined walking into. The Prospector was one of those rooms for me. I joined wanting to photograph, to try something new, to see if I could belong somewhere on campus. I did not expect it to become one of the most important parts of my college experience.
I want to thank the people who saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself. The editors who praised my work, challenged my ideas, and trusted me with more responsibility. Those same mentors who reminded me that growth does not happen in comfort. The friends I met along the way, the ones who turned deadlines into late-night laughs and helping them with stressful production days into memories I will carry long after graduation.
When I first joined, I was just trying to find my place. I was balancing school, mental health, and the quiet pressure I put on myself to succeed. I did not have any confidence whatsoever, but I was curious. Curious about whether I could actually do this. Curious about whether my voice mattered.
Over time, I realized something important. Journalism is not just about photographing or writing stories. It is about showing up. It is about listening. It is about learning how to tell someone else’s truth with care and in that journey, I found pieces of myself too.
Going from contributor to editor did not happen overnight. It came with a lot of moments of self-doubt. But it also came with growth. Real growth. The kind that demands more from you and makes you uncomfortable in the best way.
Along the way, I also stepped into another leadership role this semester, as the treasurer of the Digital Media Production Association on campus. Taking on that responsibility pushed me even further. It challenged me to think beyond myself. Both roles have taught me that leadership is not about having all the answers, but that it is being willing to learn, to serve and to grow.
What many people did not see was where this journey really started. During the first half of my first semester of college, I stayed at a shelter. I was trying to figure out how I could get my mom and I a real place to stay while still showing up to class the next morning. I was learning how to survive before I was learning how to lead.
Those months taught me resilience in a way that nothing else could. They taught me how to adapt quickly, how to ask for help when I needed it, and how to keep going even when everything felt uncertain.
After that, I worked at my first student job. Then another. Each position taught me something different about responsibility, communication and time management. When I look at that progression, I see more than the titles. I see proof that I never stopped trying to build something better for myself.
I have never been someone who had it all figured out. I still do not. I try things. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they do not. There has been a lot of trial and error, a lot of moments where I questioned whether I was good enough. But what matters is that I try and try. I did not give up on finding what I could be good at. I did not give up on myself.
This role is more than a title to me. It is proof that taking chances on yourself matters. It is proof that even when you feel uncertain, you can still move forward.
Most importantly, this is a promise to myself: A promise to keep learning, to lead with empathy, to support my peers and to never forget why I started.
There is still so much ahead of me. More stories to tell. More lessons to learn. More room to grow.
But for now, I am proud of myself.
Victoria Adler is the copy and web editor for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected] or Instagram @torimediaworks and on LinkedIn @victoriaadler.
