It was 13 years ago that I found myself accepted to Youngstown State University in Youngstown State University. I had many dreams in my boyhood. Going to YSU was near the top of the list.

At the tender age of eight years, I told my art teacher, Mr. Anderson, that I wanted to go to Youngstown State when I grew up. He told me that I had plenty of…read more

Dear Madison,
As you know, television news is an intense business. Murders, fires, funerals, anything you can shake a stick at… and those are the first 10 minutes of the newscast most nights.

However, there’s also a lot of negativity about how the news is presented. The heavy politicization of news can take its toll on any anchor person, no…read more

Almost six years ago, I graduated from Youngstown State University with honors and a Bachelor’s Degree of Journalism. I majored in Journalism, but I always tell people that I had a double-minor at YSU. I technically minored in Communication, but I had another minor: Determination.

Being on the autism spectrum, I attended job counseling. Every…read more

Dear Mrs. Shuster:
Even though it’s been close to 13 years since I left the halls of Lakeview High School, but you are still my favorite teacher of all-time in my academic career. When I was just eight years old, you introduced me to The Rich Center at Youngstown State.

When I was 10, I was moved to your classroom and enjoyed every minute of it.…read more

Katie,
Many years ago, I knew I wanted to be a sports reporter. I grew up idolizing the stalwarts like Keith Jackson, James Brown, Jon Miller, et al. But I knew that just naming names wouldn’t even be close to enough.
When you and I became close friends, you were among the first people to see fire and potential in me. You said it yourself w…read more

I know there are times in our lives and in our world where it appears that people are out to get us, even though we think we’ve done nothing wrong. We do everything right, or so it would appear, and yet we still get reamed for it– even though we don’t even so much as deserve to be criticized for it.

I also know that there are times when we are…read more