My time here at Oswego is coming to an end, with this being the last issue I officially sign off as the Assistant News Editor.

But the journey here has been one to remember, and show gratitude toward.

Having been diagnosed at a very young age with a medical condition called hydrocephalus, or “water on the brain,” I knew deep inside that everyone has a story to tell and I wanted to be that voice.

But I also knew I had to put my head down and work really hard to reach those ambitious goals of mine.

I still vividly remember when I began searching for colleges during my senior year of high school in Jensen Beach, Florida not really knowing where I wanted to go, or which degree exactly best suited my longer-term goals.

Some may say I landed in Oswego by accident. To an extent, they were not wrong.

At the time I was narrowing my college search, my brother was a member of the collegiate swim team here at SUNY Oswego. That allowed me to have one foot in the door.

My humble beginnings as a nightly news reporter and multimedia journalist at student-run WTOP-10 during my first semester as a freshman was just the tip of the iceberg.

Little did I imagine all that would happen next and where the journey would lead me.

I will admit, though, that freshman WTOP-10 reporter did not really know what he wanted to do with his life at the time. He did not even know if broadcast journalism was his true passion.

Of course, I had the pressure of following in my father’s footsteps and become a broadcast journalist. Born to a 25-year broadcast journalist, I was destined to pursue a career in the field of storytelling.

By the end of freshman year, this reporter transitioned into newspaper journalism against all odds, proving his father’s expectations wrong.

My journey at The Oswegonian has taken a lot of unexpected turns, I can assure you.

If something really did start as an accident, I guess that would be my first footsteps in print journalism.

My first byline for the student newspaper was actually a news package, or broadcast news story, produced for the newscast at student-run WTOP-10.

Then, once I had that foot in the door, I got my feet wet writing for the different departments in the paper, news, opinion and Laker Review.

But that was not the end of the journey and my involvement with student media here at SUNY Oswego.

When COVID-19 hit, I traveled to Spain to help my family and continue my degree remotely for what I thought would be just the summer months.

Rather, I stayed overseas through April of this year. That led to a whole set of unexpected opportunities and growth.

During this time, I was able to serve as WTOP-10’s foreign correspondent as well as start my own podcast with the student radio station, WNYO 88.9 FM.

Here, I examined how international students and alumni living abroad had been impacted by the epidemic.

As I packed my bags to return stateside after spending merely one year overseas, I pondered applying for newsroom leadership roles at both WNYO and The Oswegonian.

To my surprise, I was selected to serve as WNYO’s news director as well as The Oswegonian’s assistant news editor. Later on, I was promoted to serve as one of two assignment managers at WTOP-10.

It is truly mind-blowing to think that I became the first Hispanic or Latinx student to simultaneously hold editorial roles across all three student media organizations, and I could not have accomplished this without your support.

I might have been the first to accomplish something of this magnitude, but I most certainly hope I am not the last Hispanic or Latinx to lead or assist in doing so across all three student media organizations at the same time.

So thank you, Oswego, for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime.