Wow.
I’m writing this after four years of making content for the Wire. That’s only now sinking in. If you’d have asked me in my first year whether I’d stick with an organization all four years, let alone a journalistic organization, I would have probably said no. Sounds boring to me. But things change.
I wasn’t even a communication student when I was brought onto the Wire as an associate producer when I had my first meeting with Larson Seaver and Tara Schumal at the Public Market in the summer of 2018. I was a writing student with a lot of dreams and delusions, a desire to start over after four years of teenage angst — a wordsmith with something to prove.
I took a shot in the dark and applied to be an assistant producer, totally out of my depth. But I did it anyway and they came back to me with an offer. I would be unpaid, but an instrumental part of the creative process.
It was because of this flexibility and willingness to entertain and train a young creative that I’m here writing this. It’s because of a team who cares about creating content that both informs and brings joy to the community that I’ve had a chance to grow as much as I have. For this, I cannot overstate how thankful I am for every single experience; everything from the nights I’ve cried myself to sleep to the evenings in the booth where I cried of laughter.
Many times, I was hesitant to continue. I’ve gotten rejected from positions I wanted so badly that I contemplated abandoning the entire venture. What if this all ended up being a liability down the line? I wanted to write fiction films after all, and often couldn’t get projects off the ground. Was I in the wrong place?
Nothing is further from the truth. Not only has my team given me the opportunity to stretch my expectations, but we have generated more content than I could have imagined when I timidly sat down at the Public Market. I’m incredibly proud of everyone who has worked here over the past 4 years and turned the organization from a competent one with potential to one of the top student media organizations in the country.
Thank you to the Marquette Wire and to Larson and Tara for taking a chance on me. Thank you to my MUTV colleagues for putting up with me every day and giving me space to grow as a leader, creator and person. Thank you to the print team — to Randi Haseman, Benjamin Wells (byline Ben Wells), Lelah Byron, Alex Rivera Grant and Skyler Chun for being patient and giving me space to tell stories, no matter where the fate of the project took me.
Thank you to my amazing assistant producers Patrick Curran, Laura Bigay Ojeda and Caroline Bennett. You all are bound for greatness both in the Wire and beyond. Stick with it no matter how hard things get.
The Wire was an instrumental factor in teaching me how to create media, and that truly means the world to me. Thanks for being my family away from family.
This story was written by Ryan Hagan. He can be reached at [email protected]
