Trite, but true

By Ivy Farguheson
Special to chipsquinn.org

Posted: Jan. 17, 2008

Ivy Farguheson

When someone tells me I’m about to have a life-changing experience, I usually roll my eyes.

What can be more clichéd than a “life-changing experience”?

But when I heard this phrase throughout the Chips Quinn orientation in Nashville, Tenn., in May, something about the energy of those who said it made me believe it would be true.

For most of my life, I’ve believed that all experiences are life changing, but after my summer at The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis., I can truly say that some experiences affect the trajectory of your life more than others.

Let me say that I could not have been at a better paper than The Post-Crescent. And I could not have lived in a better city for a summer than Appleton.

I was assigned to the features department, a position I secretly desired. I almost jumped with excitement when the editor told me that’s where he was placing me.

I fit right in immediately. Never in my life had I been in a work environment where colleagues who had more experience than I were willing to help me when needed. Nor had I ever been in an environment where it was OK for me to admit that help was what I needed.

The beginning was rough. I never had a journalism class in my life. What I knew about journalism came from the Chips Quinn orientation.

But I learned quickly at the paper. I had to if I wanted to keep my job.

After 10 weeks of constant learning and improving, I was delighted to learn that my internship was being extended two more weeks.

For a total of 12 weeks, I pitched stories (all of my ideas were accepted), wrote lead pieces for the Life! section and learned more than I could have in any college course.

Most important, I learned that it is never too late to start something new.

I had wanted to be a journalist my entire life, but as time moved on, I thought I would have to be satisfied with freelancing.

Thanks to former Chips Quinn scholar David Lipscomb (Spring 2006), who introduced me to the program, I was able to make my long-lost dreams a reality.

After my summer of hard work (and training for the Fox Cities Marathon), I landed a job at the Stevens Point Journal, another Gannett paper in Wisconsin.

Never in a million years did I think I’d live in Wisconsin and never did I think I would love it, but both have happened.

I have the Chips Quinn program to thank for that.

So, despite my belief that “life-changing experience” is a cliché, I have to admit that the energy from the orientation in May was dead-on.

My life has truly changed in ways I never could have imagined.

For that, I am grateful.

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