I still remember the time I showed up to my first Chronicle meeting like it was yesterday.

I was a sophomore and I was determined to get involved in student media, to take a true step toward my career goals instead of just saying that I wanted to pursue a career in journalism.

To be honest, while I knew I could write, I wasn’t sure if I was any good, or that I would even get the chance to write at all.

However, I’ll always be grateful that then-opinion editor Amanda Perelli gave me the opportunity to write an opinion piece after that first meeting. It eventually turned into a weekly column for the entire fall semester of my sophomore year.

From there, I have been fortunate enough to serve three semesters as the opinion editor and spend two seasons covering men’s and women’s basketball, which included two trips to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament in Albany, New York and brought me friendships that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Now, two years later, I can confidently say that showing up to that meeting on a Tuesday night was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

The Chronicle has brought me in contact with so many amazing people that I am lucky enough to call friends, as well as allowed me a place to express and enjoy myself through writing.

But, how exactly did I get here?

For starters, I cannot stress the importance of taking a chance on something without knowing 100 percent how it is going to turn out.

Coming into Quinnipiac, I had the dream of becoming a sportswriter, but I’ll be honest, my freshman year I didn’t take any steps to really make that dream come closer to a reality. And while it is nice to hope that things will happen one day, someone close to me once said, “Hope isn’t a plan. You either do or you don’t.”

I believe in this concept religiously. You either do or don’t.

It kind of leaves you without an option, huh?

You either do what it is that will help you become successful, or get swept into the crowd with the rest of the people relying strictly on hope.

That’s not where I wanted to be.

For me, joining the Chronicle was taking the first step toward reaching that goal. It put me in a situation where I had to learn how to write and take constructive criticism, but also gave me the opportunity to put in as much work as I wanted to improve myself as a writer.

Which brings me back to the point of taking a chance on something, or sometimes yourself, in order to see the outcome.

In any aspect in life, I believe that this statement is true: Confidence is a prerequisite to success.

Believing in yourself and your ability is at least half the battle when trying to achieve something, because if you don’t believe in you, why would anyone else?

The Chronicle allowed me to put myself and confidence to the test, and at the same time reassured me that I not only could write, but could conduct a well-thought out interview. The confidence that I gained two years ago still helps me today when at work for the Record-Journal.

At the end of the day, the re-establishing of that confidence in myself is all I ever needed. The Chronicle helped me realize what I could accomplish with my writing. And as Drake says in his song ‘Tuscan Leather’, “You don’t have to prove shit to no one except yourself.” (You all know this wasn’t complete without a Drake quote).

But most of all, the Chronicle gave me the ability to express myself. The beauty of and why I love writing for the Opinion section is that it allows a writer to express their opinion on virtually anything and everyone else is entitled to their own personal thoughts about it.

These past two years, I have been able to express political, musical and sports opinions that, while nobody may have wanted hear them, I wanted to be heard in an attempt to start or continue a conversation.

The Chronicle allowed me an outlet to give a glimpse not only into my personal beliefs, but things that I enjoy to write and talk about as well as cover the sport that I love. For that, I am forever grateful.

So, to everyone that I have had the privilege of working with, especially the past two years’ E-Boards, thank you for embracing me with open arms and allowing me to be myself.

And to everyone out there looking to pursue their own dream, I hope you find your Chronicle.