Throughout my life reading and writing have always been my strong suit in academia. Growing up in West Orange, New Jersey sports were intertwined with my upbringing. My family shares memories of me waking up early at six-years-old watching NBC's Good Morning America with my dad, while he read me the New York Times sports section before traveling into New York City for work each day. Without realizing it this is where my passion for journalism began, and my love for sports has always been a part of who I am. 

I started taking a journalism class that was offered as a yearly general education course at West Orange High School. Soon after I joined my high school's newspaper, and followed my passion for sports by covering each of the athletic teams in my high school. Since I played for the varsity soccer team starting my freshman year, that was the one team I was not able to cover. Early on this taught me the importance of objectivity in journalism. Learning how to be consistently objective was difficult at times. When I was critical of certain teams performances, friends and fellow students of mine would want to debate with me about what I wrote. I always had reasoning behind any point that I made, and learning these lessons in high school has paid dividends in my growth as a journalist at the University of Rhode Island. 

When I arrived at the University of Rhode Island I knew that journalism was my ultimate passion. There was no other major that I felt as strongly about, nor would I want to spend sleepless nights honing and improving on. One of the first moves I made when arriving to Kingston, RI as a freshman, was to join the school newspaper The Good 5 Cent Cigar. I started off as a contributing reporter for the sports section of the newspaper, and after developing connections within newspaper staff, athletic department, and athletic teams I earned a staff reporter role. I kept this role working closely with each of my editors for the remainder of my time at URI.

The Cigar gave me the understanding of what it takes to be a professional journalist covering athletes, coaches, and their specific teams. I would meet strict deadlines on a weekly basis covering every athletic team that URI offers, even the club sports. I would juggle this with a full course load, and a part time job at Marshalls and Home Goods each semester, because I knew covering sports for a living was always my aspiration. During my junior year I added a minor in writing and rhetoric to continue improving my communication, grammar, and writing skills. I finished my career as the main sports reporter for the Cigar with 99 articles to my name, each being a story that I was proud to write. 

The Harrington School of Communication and Media and the staff in the journalism and writing and rhetoric department have been instrumental in my development as a young journalist. My fellow students that put their heart and soul into the Cigar to ensure every Thursday a credible and well written newspaper issue reaches the hands of URI staff and students. They have also helped me stay on track to grow as a journalist and individual. Hearing positive feedback from members of the athletic department, and individuals that I would write features about has always given me a feeling that I always want to earn. 

This senior portfolio showcases my ability to write professionally, edit, create, and shoot my own work. Each of the five outcomes listed in my senior portfolio are met with reflections and presentations of how I met each outcome during my time as a URI student. With each piece of evidence listed at the bottom of the five outcome pages I have shown my full capability of being a professional journalist. Everything in my senior portfolio shows my growth from sophomore to senior year at URI, and expresses how my learning experiences have helped me develop into the journalist I am today.