I come from a family of mathematicians and engineers. No one quite knows why I signed up for a journalism class in high school or reported for the newspaper and yearbook. When I call home, the words "dummying" and "putting it to bed" spark all sorts of questions.

During my four years as an undergraduate student at the University of Oregon, I developed a hunch about my relationship with news. I love to communicate. Not in the romance novel or guidebook sense, but in the blunt, investigative talk seemingly inseparable from newsrooms.

I applied to the campus newspaper as a copy editor two terms into my first year. After I was hired, my grandfather looked sternly at me and said he'd congratulate me when I was running the operation. I laughed. Two years later, after serving as a freelance reporter, copy chief and as the freelance editor, I was elected editor in chief. I spearheaded a major redesign, restructured the news desk and fought for higher pay for my 50 employees. It was a truly rewarding experience.

Notepad in one hand, bucket in the other, I've learned to milk a cow while trying to catch quotes. I've sipped cold coffee with a dozen retirees in a doughnut shop while listening to years of friendship manifest in war stories. I've also exchanged grins with a fellow copy editor after finding an error in a veteran reporter's story. Sometimes I can't believe I'm paid to do this.

During the summers, I gained news, features and business reporting experience at three separate internships -- the most recent as a business desk reporter at The (Spokane, Wash.) Spokesman-Review.

Through discussing story ideas, writing articles and working with diverse staffs I have expanded on my writing, leadership and interpersonal skills. My dedication to journalism has earned me numerous Oregon Daily Emerald newsroom awards and a leadership award from the University of Oregon.

The knowledge I have taken from my newsroom experience and from discussions in courses such as grammar, information gathering and media ethics has helped me decide to specialize in news-editorial and continue my education as a graduate student at the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism.

My journalism skills will forever be developing, but I know that all the deadlines, newsrooms, editors and grammatical nuances that journalism encompasses have become an inseparable and welcome part of who I am. By taking on the challenges of applying to my undergraduate college paper, interning and being accepted into one of the best graduate journalism schools in the country, I have begun to forge my own path in this profession -- one that I hope takes me beyond basic press release rewrites and into in-depth financial reporting.

I hope to one day work as a business reporter at a major national paper such as The New York Times, but for now, I am excited to know that I am growing beyond my early experiences with newspaper writing and editing.