Introducing me: Grace Pohl, reporter

I figured as my first column in Write to the Point, I should introduce myself and give some background on my life. My name is Grace Pohl and I graduated from Cheney High School in 2015. Because of doing Running Start in high school, I am entering my senior year at Eastern Washington University this fall working on a degree in journalism.

I moved to Cheney in 2008 after living in Okinawa, Japan for six years due to my father being in the military. To put myself in a nutshell, I love my family and the people I have in my life. I am also a huge Peyton Manning fan. I love to cheer for the Tennessee Volunteers and the Eastern Eagles on Saturdays in the fall. Giraffes are my favorite animal. I love concerts – especially country music. To top it all off, my favorite artists are Luke Bryan and Ed Sheeran along with Old Dominion as my favorite country band.

Now on the more professional side, I started working at the Cheney Free Press last summer as an intern, now I will be the reporter here for the Airway Heights area.

I previously had an internship with the Spokane Empire last year for game operations and journalism experience. I currently have another job at the Sports Information Department at EWU as an athletic communications intern. At that job, I was in charge of Eastern's tennis teams and golf team last year. This season I will be in charge of the reigning Big Sky Champions, the women's soccer team, cross country along with track and field.

The reason why I started journalism was because I love to hear people's stories and write about them. Prior to working here at the Cheney Free Press, I only did sports writing for the Easterner, the school paper at EWU. But after working here for over a year, I realize meeting new people around this community and hearing the stories from them is one of my favorite parts about the job.

During high school, I never knew what I wanted to do for a career but I always loved writing. I had always thought about going for a journalism job but I used to be too nervous about the career field because it wasn't widely popular and I wanted to know I could find a job straight out of college.

But during my sophomore year of college, I decided to take a chance and start my journalism career by writing for the school paper and signing up for journalism classes. Even though it can be funny to see people's reactions sometimes when I say I am majoring in journalism, I have never regretted my decision.

I also appreciate the opportunities that I have been given so far in my career. I have been able to write for the community I love here at the Cheney Free Press, I was a part of a successful season for the indoor football team in Spokane and I have been able to cheer on my Eastern Eagles in a way I thought I would never be able to do.

Now I know that wherever I end up, people will have stories for me to listen to and that I will get a chance to write about them. Since that is my favorite part about the career field, I know that I have chosen the right path and I am excited for my future.

Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.