If there were one person I could hug from the past, it would be the version of myself that stepped foot on campus four years ago. Not only that, but I would look my past self in the eyes and tell her, “It’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be worth it.”
Four years ago, I was a scared and shy freshman who cried when her parents dropped her off at a school three hours away without knowing a single person around her. I thought I wouldn’t make it to the next week without begging to be picked up, and there would be no way I would ever figure out how to make friends with strangers or where I belonged on campus.
Four years later, I am a soon-to-be graduate who cried because I got everything I could have asked for. I found a place where I could become the best version of myself, and I have the people I met and the opportunities I had to thank for that.
One of the first times I felt things would be OK after coming to Athens was when I joined The Post a few weeks into freshman year. I realized I was not alone, and there were other people who were also trying to figure out where they belonged.
At the first meeting I went to, I sat in the back and hoped no one would notice me, but that was not the case. The first person I ever talked to, Nate Swanson, showed me that kindness and friendliness go a long way. From a simple “Hi, what’s your name?” I knew that one day, I wanted to give back to people who were in similar situations, and I wanted them to feel as comfortable stepping into the newsroom as I did the first time.
When I became the Director of Photography two years ago, I made it a point to always tell people they were welcome to hang out in the office and to come to meetings even if they were not able to pick up any assignments. I wanted them to know they would always have a place to go, whether they needed to work on homework, debate the best photography spots on campus, or just be around people.
While most people say college will be the best years of your life, I can certainly say they have been some of the most meaningful and lesson-filled ones. Both inside and outside of classes and extracurriculars, I have been taught so much by so many, and the experiences Ohio University has given me are ones I will never take for granted.
From traveling with the football team to all sides of the East Coast to helping to cover one of the biggest presidential elections in my lifetime, I have a portfolio filled with photos that tell many different stories and remind me of how far I have come since August 2021. In addition, one of the biggest lessons I have learned is to stop holding back when an opportunity presents itself.
Second-guessing myself was easy because I never had the confidence to trust the process. I would rather close my eyes and hope I made it to the end of the tunnel than take a chance and look for the light on my own. For that reason, if I could have a do-over, one change I would make would be to say ‘yes’ more. Yes to those random photo assignments, yes to the many job opportunities, and most definitely yes to going out and enjoying the free time I had with my friends.
I said I would never call Athens home because home was where my family was.
It turned out my family was more than just the people I was raised with. They were the ones who helped me get through late nights of studying and laying out photo spreads on InDesign. They were also the ones with whom I spent Monday nights sitting in an office designing a paper for thousands of people to read and look at the next day.
I am grateful that I was able to learn to stop holding back because, without it, I would not be the person I am today, and I would not have found a place to call home away from home.
Alaina Dackermann is a senior studying visual communication at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Alaina by tweeting her at @dackphotography
