The Importance of Giving Back

My life has been made up of little moments. The time I have spent with my family, to memories I have created with friends have all added up to my passions. There is one little moment for me that was a big factor in my passion for journalism.

In the summer of 2014 I attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference. WJMC is a week filled of hearing from journalists across all mediums and making life-long connections with people from across the country. The memories I made during that conference shaped who I wanted to be as a journalist and a person.

Once the conference ended I remember crying the entire 20-minute drive home. The experience I felt could not be paralleled but I did feel it could be enriched. The months following the conference I became a member of the conference’s youth advisory board and applied to be an intern. When I didn’t receive the internship, I worried my time with the conference would be coming to an end.

This spring I applied to be a Junior Faculty Advisor at the conference. It had been almost three years since my involvement with WJMC and I was ready to go back. I had learned and grown and my experiences at WJMC were still with me. I wanted to give back to the conference that gave so much to me. I mentored over 40 students over two weeks in July. I could only hope that the experience I helped them have could even be a shadow of my own.

I fell in love with my students and fell in love all over again with WJMC. The ability to give back to this conference helped me as a person, journalist, and mentor.

Photo: Meghan ATB Reese

While I want to believe that everyone has that special program that has impacted them I’m wise enough to know that this isn’t necessarily true. I do believe, though, that is possible for everyone to give back to the people who helped create their little moments. Don’t forget those who helped you get to where you are now. I could give back to just one set of people who contributed to one of little moments and I know others can too.

How have you given back to those who have contributed to your little moments? Let us know in the comments or using #stepupmagazine.