It’s Memorial Day Weekend!
It’s Memorial Day Weekend…
It’s Memorial Day Weekend.
This weekend has a lot of different meanings for a lot of different people. For some, it’s heart-breaking as they remember someone they love who has passed. For others, it’s heart-fulfilling as they use the extra weekend day for an opportunity to reunite with friends or family. For me, it’s a very heart-provoking time of year as I reflect on the last two years… and the last seven years.
Seven years ago this weekend, I was graduating from Augustana College. I received a Bachelor’s in Speech Communications as well as English and was very proud of my double major, my grades, and all the extra-curricular activities I was able to be involved in while at Augie. It was a ceremony full of celebration as I sang with the Augustana Choir in front of all my peers, walked across the stage to receive my diploma, shook President Bahls’ hand, and became another Augustana Graduate in my family.
It was a weekend full of celebration as our group of friends spent our last days as “college kids” together… sitting in class pondering while listening to incredible professors, walking across the most beautiful campus with a Java 101 Milky Way Mocha (or whatever the heck it was that we could drink 15 of then but definitely could not even drink 1 of now), living feet (and minutes) away from your best friends, borrowing each other’s clothes/jewelry, destroying the house with parties just as quickly as we cleaned them up (it’s funny because it’s true), taking picture after picture on real cameras, going out to our favorite bars in The District, dancing on speakers, not going to bed until 4am with tummies full of tacos, believing that life was going to be AWESOME and we were going to rule the world.
However, the world is not 30th Street to 38th Street/7th Avenue to 14th Avenue in a corner of Rock Island, Illinois. Don’t get me wrong – I am so thankful for that little world of ours that we got to enjoy and take advantage of for four years, but it is definitely not real reality.
I was full of pride on that day seven years ago, but I was also very scared of what was going to happen next. I did not have a job lined up (WQAD-TV, where I interned, had ZERO job openings at the time), so I sent out about 50-60 resume tapes to television stations across the country. I didn’t have a place to live, so it was back to my parents’ house where my friends were all of a sudden hours away.
I didn’t even have a back-up plan. I was spending three weeks in June touring Sweden with the Augustana Choir, so I told myself that I would figure it out when I got back. I mean, I sent out dozens of resume tapes. I expected the voicemail box on my cell phone to be full of messages from interested News Directors when our plane landed in late June.
I will never forget sitting in the backseat of my parents’ car, driving away from O’Hare, turning on my cell phone, and listening to that lady’s voice say “You have no new messages.”
I thought my career – my dream career – was over before it even began. I felt like a fool for even considering this dream as a career. What was I doing with my life, with this double major that I worked so hard for? Why didn’t I go to a school with an actual Journalism major? Why didn’t I major in something that would have given me an instant job with an instant salary and instant success? How am I going to live for the next 50 years based on what I did in the last 4 years?
The day my Mom and I drove a moving truck to my senior house in Rock Island, packed up the remainder of my stuff, and drove it all back to Downers Grove was the day I received my first phone call. It was a turning point, a sign, my break, my way, my “in.” I spent the next 15 months at WHBF-TV in Rock Island as a One-(Wo)man Band. As a bonus… I got to move back to the Quad Cities – a place I had already considered a second home – and share an apartment with my college roommate of three years for two more years. Life was good. Not to mention that not too long after I started my career, I met my future husband (insert “aww…” or gagging noise here).
The next few years would be full of ups and downs in my career… doubting myself, my brain, my heart, my sanity. Am I really doing what I want to do? Is this where I’m supposed to be right now… this minute, this second? Should I keep pushing myself in this direction? Is this right? Those moments are hard – and yes, they still happen – but they keep me “in tune” with my self, my spirit, my soul. I think asking these questions are not so hard… as answering them.
Two years ago this weekend, I became the Weekend Anchor at WQAD. Five years after graduating from Augustana, I finally felt 100% sure about what I was doing and which direction I was going. I sat in that anchor chair with a white blazer on and for the first time got to say “Good Evening, Everyone. I’m Angie Sharp.” without having to say who I will filling in for immediately after. The seat was mine to fill and the opportunity was mine to make the very best of.
For the last two years, I’ve been trying to do just that. Our very small crew on Saturdays and Sundays works very hard to bring you the best local coverage of news, weather, and sports. We are really determined to give our people – you, the viewers and readers – a voice, a spotlight in our newscast, a feeling that you have been well-informed once you turn off the television or log off the computer at the end of the day. We have made that the #1 Goal these last two years. I really believe that we have the best people in the business under one roof every single day of the weekend and of course the week… whether that’s photographers, meteorologists, sportscasters, anchors/reporters – or the people you don’t necessarily see… editors, production assistants, directors, web and assignment managers.
For the last two years, I’ve felt like I’m finally doing what I grew up dreaming I would do, what I went to college for, why I took a risk and went to a school that meant something to me and my family instead of going somewhere for Journalism, why I wanted to stay connected to this community, why I pushed myself through weird schedules and strange stories and long, long days/nights. It’s been – quite literally – a dream come true to walk into that studio with the lights on and sit in that chair to tell the stories of my community. I do not take that for granted one bit.
I have to remind myself that it took time. It took five years to get to that spot. It’s going to take more years to get to my next big goal, fulfill my bigger dream. However, like receiving that phone call when I thought that dream was dead, an opportunity/a turning point/a sign can change everything in an instant. As I reflect on the last seven years and think about how long ago that was, I know that each and every experience has made me ready for what’s ahead. It doesn’t – and shouldn’t – come on a silver platter. It takes perseverance, pride, and passion… the same qualities that a young woman with no real plan had on May 25th, 2008.
I hope you have a meaningful Memorial Day.
– A