Two years ago after I graduated from Baylor, Billy—my prep editor at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser gave me my first adult job writing (primarily) about Division II high school football for the newspaper and Hawaii Prep World read my first ever published article here!). At the time I was deeply depressed because I couldn’t get a full-time job despite my 24/7 efforts and over 100 applications completed, so connecting with Billy through a friend of a friend was like a lifeboat keeping me from sinking into the darkest spirals. I had no clue what I was doing when I attended my first few high school games and even when I finally felt comfortable and confident in my duties, I had my mom drive me to Nanakuli when my assigned game was at Farrington (I still can’t look at the Farrington field without feeling absolute dread!!). I eventually was hired at Legal Aid full-time and shortly after, Sjarif who wrote the pictured article above, hired me as a part-time sports clerk for the Star-Advertiser. I was set to work twice a week with one of my days being the Friday nights I worked as a freelancer. Sports clerking was extremely difficult as it’s all about layout and paper design. Sjarif and the other men I worked with in the office were and are so kind to me and helpful as I learned the layout process. They never made me feel like I wasn’t good enough or like I was out of place as the only girl on staff. Even when I took on a part-time job with my organization Hawaii Peace and Justice and had to resign from my clerkship earlier this year, Sjarif wished me well and Billy still kept me on as a “stringer” covering high school football again when the season began. Sjarif today published his monthly column with this month’s article focusing on all of us who clerk and freelance for the sports section. I feel so privileged to have been included in his article especially as someone who resigned under his watch (obviously just because of work conflicts and not because I was unhappy at the newspaper). There are a lot of wonderful writers and staffers at the Star-Advertiser and especially in the sports section, so have a look at Sjarif’s generous and kind article here and remember that even the smallest pieces are diligently worked on by meticulous staffers!
