“Tina, what do you want to be when you grow up?” asked my third-grade teacher. I remember the scenario clearly. It was early in the school year and my teacher asked me and my 8-year-old classmates what we wished to be in the future. There was a chorus of “doctor,” “veterinarian,” “police officer” and one student shouted “millionaire!” When it was my turn, I puffed up my chest and proudly stated, “I want to be a writer.”

Fast forward nine years later and my goal has roughly stayed the same. In fact, here I am today, working for the newspaper. It’s temporary and I’m just an intern more or less, but I consider it to be one of my greatest achievements. But how did I get here? It’s kind of a long story.

It wasn’t until I was in ninth grade that I decided to go into the journalism field. I was taking a journalism class “just for fun” and it wasn’t a bad class and I rather enjoyed my teacher and classmates. However, one day, we were assigned to write a report about a historic journalist and I was randomly chosen to write about Nellie Bly. Bly changed my life. An amazing journalist, Bly was a female reporter in the 1880s and 1890s. She performed risky stunts to get her story, such as going undercover in an insane asylum to expose how poorly asylums treated their patients. Another famous stunt of hers was traveling around the world in less than 80 days, which was no easy feat in a world of no cars or planes. Her adventures showed me how amazing and exciting the world of journalism could be, thus it inspired me to be a journalist. I know full well I won’t be doing any stunts of that sort, but I believe I can have incredible stories and adventures nonetheless.

To get where I am at the newspaper though, I have to give credit to my father. I believed I had to go to college, get a degree in broadcasting, and then start my career in journalism. However, my Dad encouraged me to take a more immediate approach to pursue my dream and start getting some experience and training early. He suggested I seek an internship of some sort with Minot Daily News and he gave me their number. Nervous, I called them, I asked them for a chance, and to my shock, they actually hired me. I couldn’t believe it, and to be honest, I still don’t believe it now.

These past few weeks I have spent at the newspaper have been incredible. I love working with this awesome group of people, I love my desk and computer, and I love the feeling I am accomplishing something. Being here at the paper is one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made. Hopefully, this is not only an amazing learning experience, but the first step in a lifelong career.

Local high school student Tina Timm is a contributing writer at Minot Daily News.