My biggest opportunity became my home, and that means everything

Coming into college, I was a rarity among my friends. I knew where I wanted to be, and I knew what I wanted to do. I had been writing about sports since the age of 16, when I began an NHL analytics account on Instagram and branched out into the world I now love: Authoring articles.

I was told that Miami University was a place I should look at to pursue a journalism degree, so my family and I decided to visit.

My first time in Oxford was packed with an official tour of the campus, Williams Hall and the journalism department from soon-to-be sports editor Jack Schmelzinger and then-head of Redhawk Radio Patrick Geshan, and a tour of Goggin Ice Center by then-hockey Head Coach Chris Bergeron, set up by a family friend.

I fell in love with everything about this place. I knew there would be opportunities for me to write as a first-year student about a Division I college hockey program (albeit one that hadn’t had much recent success at that point), which was the biggest factor for me.

I committed early decision to Miami. It was the only school I applied to. I knew I belonged here, and I knew The Miami Student (TMS) was where I wanted to be for the next four years of my life.

My journey with The Student has been full of fun adventures and has provided me with plenty of exciting opportunities. I began writing in October of my first year with a sole focus on hockey. I interviewed a professional player I had grown up watching on my second-favorite NHL team, Andy Greene, and spoke with former forward Red Savage about the World Junior Championships before the season ended.

Sophomore year, I continued writing about hockey but branched out into baseball by spring, which was also around the time that I became far more active within The Student. I realized I needed to use this opportunity to grow not just my resume, but my friend group, too.

And so I did.

Through my junior and senior years, I became close with members of the staff, like Kethan Babu, whom I would become the right-hand man to as assistant sports editor before my junior year. I made friendships with others like former Editor-in-Chief Kasey Turman, former Opinion Editor Sam Norton, Business Manager Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief Olivia Patel, Managing Editor Anna Reier, Campus and Community Editor Taylor Stumbaugh and so many others.

It was the greatest privilege getting to know these incredibly talented and kind-hearted people who welcomed me in without skipping a beat. I remember most of them saying, “Oh, you’re whose byline we see all over the Sports section,” and from there, we were off and running with a laugh.

As I reflect on my time with The Miami Student, I initially thought of it as my biggest opportunity in college. While it has been exactly that, it has grown into more of a home than anything else. I always look forward to production nights with my friends where we write and edit stories, do stupid impressions of Stephen A. Smith, Eric Cartman, Mort from Madagascar and any others we can think of, while enjoying music and pizza along the way.

Even outside of the awesome newsroom, I enjoyed having a group of people in my journalism classes that I was familiar with and could look forward to seeing. It made my college experience exactly what I thought it could be.

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So, thank you, TMS, and thank you to the wonderful people who helped make this newspaper a place where I could share my thoughts in person and in print. I’ll be forever in your debt for making this sports and writing-lover’s dream a reality.

@jjmid04

middleje@miamioh.edu

Jeffrey Middleton is a senior from Nashville, Tennessee, double majoring in journalism and sports communication and media. He is the assistant sports editor for The Student and has been in the role since his junior year, while still focusing on his primary beat, Miami hockey.