Joshua Heron is a graduate student perfecting sports journalism at Cronkite, a top ranked journalism school. He received his undergraduate at Howard University. Heron is a 21-year-old from The Bronx, New York with a passion for writing and telling stories.
He explained that telling stories is a great way to connect with people and leave a lasting, positive impression. Graduating in May is one of the events he is most looking forward to this year. In 10th grade, Heron knew he wanted to pursue something with writing and ended up landing with sports journalism. His favorite sports are basketball and soccer. Heron expressed that his dream career would be to become a beat reporter for the New York Knicks or Manchester United. Heron would stick with a journalism career regardless of the pay. Hey, happiness is the most essential part of life. If money was not an essential to survival, he would simply relax all day, doing nothing. I believe most people would agree with this idea, I especially would love to sit in a rocking chair on a wraparound porch all day.
To get where he is at today, Heron has had to overcome adversity throughout his life. He was three months premature at birth and had to put up a strong fight in the hospital. Heron also deals with anxiety daily. In 2019, his anxiety was immensely overwhelming to the point of being admitted into the hospital for it. He expressed that his anxiety is not as bad as it once was as he implements techniques to process this daily grapple. Heron believes that he can fully overcome his anxiety one day, which is an amazing mindset and the perfect first step into making it happen.
Both of Heron’s parents are immigrants from Jamaica. Heron’s favorite dish is Jamaican curry chicken because he grew up with that dish, along with other Jamaican dishes. He is not the biggest fan of seafood, although he praises his moms shrimp cooking. The perfect day according to Heron has already happened. It entails a trip he took to Jamaica in 2022 to meet his dad and hang out with his three siblings. Being together as one, laughing and having fun was the overall highlight of being in Jamaica. “Those experiences made me who I am,” he said. He describes his dad as an old school Jamaican dad, who treated him like a soldier at times. On the other hand, his mom spoils him because he was technically the only child growing up since it was just him in the house. Heron explained that organizing that trip is what he is most proud of. He continued and said that making these meaningful connections with family and people in general is what helps lessen his anxiety. People and the interactions with those around him are what brings him the most joy in life.
With joy, comes pain and with pain, comes annoyances. Heron does not have many pet peeves, but here are some: people not being on time and gossip. “Gets me tight,” he said while describing the amount of gossip that happens in New York. Heron has a bright future ahead of him that includes more Jamaica trips and no gossip!
