I am Tia. I am the girl who overslept on the first day of class. I’ve struggled with sleep for most of my adolescent life, and I’ve always been able to manage without it blowing up in my face, until today.
I do have that habit. If I have a bad habit, as long as I don’t face consequences that are too severe, I keep doing it, and I keep finding my way to push through. Walking into class at 11:26 a.m. was consequence enough today.
Missing the first day of class was not how I wanted to start this semester, especially since I’ve been waiting to take this class for the last two years.
I’m a senior at Arizona State studying Sports Journalism. Throughout the last three and half years, I’ve tried my hands at everything, producing content using almost any medium there is. Writing is one of the few things that’s stuck.
I’ve always been a good writer, at least that’s what the people around me told me my whole life. When I was in first grade I wrote something so good, my teacher entered me into a youth creative writing contest in the area. I placed pretty well, and even at just five years old, it felt really good to hear tons of adults say I was good at this one thing.
Creative writing was always the way I put my so-called talents to use until my senior year of high school. After a few heated debates my junior of high school with my father at seven in the morning while he drove me to school, I finally figured out that I wanted to go to school for journalism.
It took me a while to figure it out. He was not fond of my original plan to be a teacher. He said I had too much intelligence, that I could be a doctor or a lawyer. He also worried about my financial outlook. He’s my biggest fan now, even though I often remind him that I’ll still probably be broks through my first couple of jobs.
He listens to all the games I do play-by-play or color commentary for, and he reads all my article, sharing with friends and family on Facebook.
I figured out I wanted to study journalism on somewhat of a whim. I loved sports, but I couldn’t find a way to incorporate my love of sports into my future career. And then I gradually started to realize that sports journalism was perfect.
Starting in seventh grade, I hardly ever changed the channel away from ESPN on the TV in my room. It didn’t matter if the NBA, NFL, WNBA, MLB or even NHL was playing. If it was something I didn’t like, I just used it as background noise while I read or did homework.
I realized that I could combine my love of sports with writing – something I was supposedly good at – to start a career that I would love. I wouldn’t even come home miserable or spend time groveling about how much I regretted my choices because I absolutely loved sports and writing.
Once I figured out what I wanted to study, I hit the ground running. I applied with journalism as my first choice major at 9 schools. The first few accepted, the last few rejected me. The University of Miami was too expensive, even with the scholarship money they gave me. Howard University gave me a substantial amount, but I wanted options. So I applied to a 10th school, Arizona State University.
Little did I know that the intelligence my father had praised my whole life would lead to me getting a full-tuition scholarship. Thanks to my PSAT score of 1400, I earned a spot in the College Board’s African-American Recognition Program, which at the time, earned me a four-year scholarship at ASU. The decision was a no-brainer.
Through my first several years at the school, I had amazing experiences. I covered a plethora of different sports, but I also found my lane where I wanted to spend my time and focus on making my impact: women’s basketball.
I played all throughout high school, and even in college it was my passion to study, it cover it, commentate it and be around it in any way I could journalistically. Before turning 21, I was credentialed for three Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournaments, two WNBA All-Star Games and a Team USA 3×3 Developmental Camp.
As much as I love women’s basketball, I also have a lot of thoughts about the field. I’m a very opinionated person. I have been my whole life. Women’s basketball and its players are not safe from my strong opinions. I take after my dad in that way. I inherited infuriating stubbornness from both of my parents.
Spreading my thoughts and being heard is critical for me. I look forward to having the chance to develop my voice over the course of this class and shaping my rough opinions into true commentary that people will want to read.
