I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am for all the opportunities that Odyssey has given me since I started writing with them. In August of 2016 I was onboarded to Ashland’s little Odyssey community. Little did I know that it was going to be such a big part of my life. I was responsible for creating one piece of content (an article) every week. That one article was due every Saturday by 6pm. How easy is that? I was pumped! I see these articles around everywhere, I think they are almost as popular as Buzzfeed Quizzes are. Now I get to be part of something that big! Holy Cow!

My first ever Odyssey Article was released on August 22, 2016 and was titled Why I Am Thankful For My College Friends . That article meant a great deal to me and it still does. I don’t talk to those guys as much or as often as I used to but I like to think that if I really needed them, they would answer the phone when I called. I hope they would anyway. We had many bumpy roads this past year but they are still a big part of my life and have made a huge impact on me.

I continued to write articles every week on a variety of topics. My next article that completely took off was my article about ghost hunting. The article was released on September 6, 2016 titled My First Experience With Ghost Hunting and has over one thousand views! This was only my third article that I have written and I thought I was on top of the world!

As I continued to write and release articles I starting learning who my audience was. I started to learn what pieces did better than others. I started developing who I was as an Odyssey writer and as a writer in general. I started releasing more identity pieces. I started really telling my story and being comfortable with people knowing it. I started releasing pieces like Do You Remember?, Embracing My Individuality, Can We Start Over?, To The Boy I Had To Say Goodbye To, and To The Girl Who Is In Love With Someone She Can’t Have. These are the most important articles I have written in my opinion. They really show what I was going through when I wrote them. However, we can’t forget all the fun articles I have released in the past as well. I sometimes write about how cartoons really relate to my life or how much music impacts my life.

I started to use all this confidence that Odyssey has given me to push me into doing bigger things for myself. In January 2017 I was promoted in Odyssey ranks to Contributing Editor. This came with more responsibilities in the Odyssey world. I started editing other people’s articles that were on Ashland’s Odyssey Team. I absolutly reading my teammates articles. I was never able to see the amazing content Ashland’s team puts out every week and I was extremely thankful that I was able to see that now.

In April 2017 the Ashland team started going through a ‘transition of power’ so to speak. Our Editor-in-Chief was graduating and wanting to pass the team off to someone she thought was the best fit. I was chosen to be the successor. I have officially been the Editor-in-Chief for Ashland’s team for about 2 weeks now (The whole month of May 2017).

Back in August 2016 I would have not guessed I would be in the position that I am now. I would have never guessed that I would progress as much and as fast as I have. I have been able to put so many things out for the public that I never thought I ever could. I have been able to make my voice bigger than I ever thought it could be. I have really discovered who I am and who I want to be. Odyssey has really helped me personally and professionally. Thank you, Odyssey, for being such an amazing platform for me and my voice.