I am a full-time reporter at the Standard Journal newspaper. I mostly cover education, health and the Madison County Commission, but as we are such a small newspaper I also cover anything that needs to be covered. I have written and published a variety of stories on everything from bear attacks to school board meetings to vacuum salesman. I've written on agriculture, business and religion as well. My duties include writing, editing, photography and essentially whatever the managing editor needs me to do.

I have studied a solid foundation of general education. I have also become proficient in the study of literature, research writing and literary interpretation, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and editing. I received my minor in Communications, developing skills in news gathering, news writing and visual media.

I worked at several different cash registers at a gift shop/convenience store near Bryce Canyon. I worked the fast-paced grocery registers and the slower-paced registers at the jewelry counter and in the Native American gallery. I learned a lot about the products I was selling, as well as learning a few phrases in other languages to communicate with tourists.

I worked at a hotel with a very small staff and was trained in a variety of areas including checking guests in and out, making reservations, overseeing housekeepers, answering phone calls and doing hotel laundry.

I was essentially a professional baby-sitter. I learned how to manage a large group of children, keep my work space clean and orderly, interact with parents, and become a more responsible, hard-working individual.

I learned how to clean everything you can think of. More importantly, I learned the value of doing exhausting work and of being self-motivating.