Freshman year I had this idea to do a fall sports photo shoot, but it wasn’t until December of 2024 in the middle of my sophomore year that I decided to turn this idea into a real thing. Despite it being the week of finals, and having tests I probably should have studied more for, I invested my time and energy into outlining and creating this project from the ground up. And it was not easy. Turning something into a full fledged event just from a concept, and having nothing to base it off of was challenging. And that was only the first step. Nonetheless, I couldn’t turn my work brain off, and anytime there was a spare second, my thoughts drifted to Media Day and how the heck I was going to pull this off.
Fast forward to January, and I was pitching this idea to the Athletic Directors and the Principal. And we went big with our pitch. I was ambitious and asked for a lot, so while it was disappointing when the entire project as I outlined wasn’t approved, at least I had something. The Beta Test. Winter sports, varsity athletes only. And in that moment, I knew that I had to knock these men’s socks off so that we could run more of these events in the future.
Once we got approval, the hard work actually started. Fleshing out how the day would work, schedules, communication, materials, and marketing. All of this occupied every nook and cranny in my head. I knew that I needed to execute this perfectly and that any wrong step could lead to this getting canceled. So I did what I do best, and I gave it 110%. By this point it was starting to look and feel like an actual project, and something tangible instead of an idea. I had gotten the videographer and the photographers, the materials, and my team. We were going to pull this off, and it was going to be amazing.
Yet, it didn’t really hit me that this was actually happening until the morning of, as I was sitting in front of my mirror doing my hair. As I carefully pulled the hair away from my face into clean, neat braids, I realized that this was really happening. I had done all the hard work and the planning. Now all I had to do was take the pictures, which quite frankly is the easy part. As I pulled into the gym parking lot, and walked over to Ms Friv’s (the photography teacher’s) classroom, I felt a sudden rush of excitement. All those hours that I had put in would finally mean something.
The day went absolutely amazing, all the athletes were on time, there was an amazing turnout, and we took so many photos. But even as the last of them left, and everything was cleaned up in the gym, I realized that I couldn’t rest. There was still more work to be done and I wasn’t finished. Not only did we have to edit and deliver all the photos from the winter media day, but we also needed to start planning spring. As they say, there’s no rest for the wicked, and your girl over here can’t seem to catch a break. But even through it all, I wouldn’t give it up for the world because there is something so satisfying about turning nothing into something, and having that something be so impactful for those around you.
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