Majoring in journalism did not come to mind so quickly. Growing up, I struggled with English and did well in [math]. Therefore, my mother hired a tutor, Ms. Lilia, to help me jump the hurdle, which always blocked the fullest potential of education.

I found the learning tactics that she used were annoying, and I did not feel comfortable spending nearly two hours with her every Saturday afternoon.

Then, there was the El Camino College speed reading program that my mother placed my sister and I into every consecutive Saturday for about two months.

Although I rebelled against learning the tactics, somehow, these instructors implanted subliminal messages inside of my head to inspire aspirations. Also, my grades began to improve in English. I even started to read more and wrote multiple poems and letters of grievances about being raised by my parents. You know, the ordinary talk of children.

However, I was thrilled more so with taking care of animals and helping to keep the environment green and clean from trash and other forms of pollution. Nevertheless, there was always an inspiration to interpret feelings into writing. And after reading “The Giver,” I fell in love with writing, for I too was Jonas – living in an environment where you can’t do anything else besides absorbing it and your memories and trying to make sense out of it, only to pass the same information to innocent or unknown minds. Those who read the book or watched the movie, I’m sure you understand the reference.

In 2017, I became a reporter for Los Angeles City College Collegian, where I had my first feature article published. The passion behind the interviewee’s answers drew me deeper into his world of interest in horror films, which inspired him to produce a scary movie about schizophrenia.

My first feature story outside academia was a narrative about a fundraising event on Jan. 27, 2018. A mental health agency called Painted Brain paired with a pop-up bakery boutique to enhance art space for individuals with mental illnesses to assist with practical coping skills.

Then, in early 2019, I became a staff writer for the East Los Angeles Campus News, where I wrote my second feature within an academic arena. It was about one of the campus professors retiring from teaching to run a tequila farm, in which some of the earnings would get turned into scholarships for students in the STEM program at the college.

Feature writing is one of the best forms of storytelling because it’s a sense of promoting an individual or a thing. The narratives are laden with facts; nevertheless, they are always conveyed anecdotally in a sense to gravitate human interest.