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By Andrew White | Staff Writer

Growing up in Cumming, Georgia, I did not have much interest in school. The big focus in my life was sports. As a kid, I played every sport imaginable, and I hardly ever read. I did enjoy movies, and I still do. 

Everything changed for me on the Fourth of July going into my freshman year of high school. A rope swing accident led to my left hand being severely injured, interrupting my ability to play any sport. I still cannot feel parts of my left hand today. 

While this was probably one of the worst things that had ever happened to me, looking back, I can pinpoint it as the moment my life was put on the correct trajectory. My hand was so severely injured that I could not even play video games. 

That is when I started to really get into reading and my English class. I fell in love with reading and learning about English and literature. 

I started writing shortly after. It was mostly creative short stories and poems, and it was more for my entertainment than anything. I began practicing journalism for The Samford Crimson, my college newspaper, during my sophomore year at Samford. I wrote about sports, and my primary focus was our football team. That fall, I fell in love with journalism. 

I became the Editor-in-Chief at that college paper after a couple of years as a staff reporter. I loved serving that community.

I was still considering going into different fields like advertising, but in my senior year of college, my journalism ethics professor, Clay Carey, told us that truth in journalism is so important because journalists write the first draft of history. 

I knew that I wanted to continue reporting after graduating. I was thrilled when Alec Etheredge offered me this position here at The Clanton Advertiser.

I am so excited to learn more about Chilton County and to join this community. More importantly, I am incredibly thrilled to be serving in this community and participating in drafting its history.