On Sunday, Jan. 21 I was able to interview fellow classmate Adriana DoPadre and get to know about her childhood, her life, the challenges she faced to get to where she is today and the importance of mental health in the journalism industry.
DoPadre, 21 years old, grew up in Sierra Vista and despite now attending Arizona State University, she was once a big fan of the Arizona Wildcats basketball team, which she claims is partially due to where she was raised, “Because of our location, it was more convenient to go to UofA games…” DoPadre still has a love for the UofA basketball team but finds herself rooting for other ASU sports now that she has attended the university.
DoPadre also had a unique relationship with her brother and sister who share a wide age gap with her brother being 12 years older and her sister being 17 years older.
She also mentioned her love for her niece despite not sharing that same sentiment when they were younger, “I love my niece although I hated her when she was born.” DoPadre and her niece share a close relationship due to their close age gap, with her niece only being three years apart in age, “I love her to death.”
One of DoPadre’s biggest challenges in life came after she broke her ankle in 2022, comparing the injury to Gordon Hayward’s back in 2017 when he fractured his left ankle in the first quarter against the Cavaliers.
She went on to explain another reason why the injury was so challenging was due to spraining her ankle a few months prior at the Vegas Bowl.
“It was maybe two months after I got out of physical therapy, I break my left ankle…I spent all of the end of my sophomore, all of my junior and almost my one semester of my senior year in physical therapy.”
She would also go on and detail the mental challenges these injuries would inflict, “I would gaslight myself a lot and be like I don’t have a reason to be depressed about my ankle injury because I’m not a true athlete,” but she also made sure to highlight the levity of the situation as well, mentioning how the Golden State Warriors went on to win the finals right after she broke her ankle, “guys if you need your team to win a championship just break your ankle.”
She followed this story up with the mention of her grad project coming up, which covers the idea of mental health training in the journalism field and how to better prepare journalists to deal with mental struggles they may face throughout their career.
When talking with DoPadre we both shared the same sentiment on mental health but it was DoPadre who specifically mentioned the struggles in the Journalism field which got me thinking about the future.
It’s important as the next generation of journalists that we help shape the normal for what’s to come. Mental health is a topic that is greatly overlooked in today’s world and we have to find a way to put an end to that. Whether that be with unique classes in college preparing journalists for the future or just in personal training courses at a job. Regardless, mental health is a constant rising force that needs more attention from all generations.
