My Story #1

Good afternoon to everyone, I wish you all a great rest of your day wherever you may find yourself reading this post. 

For the “My Story” assignment, I'll be talking a bit about my experience as a storyteller during my time at App State. But before we dive into all that– here's a little backstory about me. After graduating from an early college high school, I arrived in the beautiful high country over 3 hours away from my small hometown of Angier, NC. Captivated by the scenery and new opportunities and experiences that awaited me I was over the moon about starting this new chapter of my life… as well as terrified seeing as I was already a junior at a 4-year university at 17 years old, meaning there was not much time for fun!

I was alone away from the only family I had here, my parents. With no idea what to do or where to go next– I looked up at those who surrounded me in their early and mid-twenties while taking advanced classes. I found that if I wanted to succeed I had to adapt to the fast-paced and competitive nature of these courses, strikingly different from my experience graduating from a class of just 20 folks all taking online courses back in my rural town!

Eventually, I started to get into the flow of things and found a passion for journalism. I knew I wanted to work in television or contribute to my new community somehow and decided to dedicate my free time outside of classes to The Appalachian News and AppTV’s channel Buenos Dias Boone– reporting on the local community and focusing on the underrepresented and vibrant Latino community nestled within this valley.

I know from what I've seen in this class’s syllabus and upcoming projects already that I will be picking up new techniques that will help me succeed in my chosen career and engage an audience in a multitude of ways.

Thank you for keeping up with me! See you next time.

Nataly Aguiar.