Working for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser as a freelance sports writer and clerk over the past three years has provided me with more benefits than I can list. My sports editors at the newspaper gave me my first real job after I graduated from college when I thought I’d never ever be hired anywhere. I’ve written before about how lucky I am to work in the department part-time as I get to earn additional income and I have sports-related experience that not many people my age, much less girls, get to have. And while those perks are phenomenal and have truly enriched my life, the best part of working for the Star-Advertiser is building relationships with the editors, writers, and clerks around me. I’ve never been treated as less than or incompetent by the men in my department despite my age, sex, and experience level. My editors have encouraged and motivated me even when I mess(ed) up on box scores or recaps. I’ve already been included in a thoroughly generous column about the clerks and stringers in our department (you can read the article here and my reaction here!) and most recently you can find me and my family in Mr. Dave Reardon’s sports column from yesterday! Mr. Dave is a long-term and well-known sports writer in the community who kindly reached out to me at the end of 2021 after his and my dad’s mutual friend told him I was writing for the paper as well. We’ve struck up a few conversations about writing, sports, and journalism since then and last week he asked me if he could include me in his upcoming week’s column! What became a type of mixed preview/connection article about the Baylor WBB/HawaiĘ»i WBB first round game and my family’s love for Baylor is featured above (the parts about me and my family, that is) and posted here. I’m not much interesting or unique, so I’m thrilled that my sports writing counterparts have taken to incorporating parts of my life in their work. How lucky am I?
