A Note to Self: Reflection and Gratitude for My Time At Howard University’s CHSOC

Dear Maddie,

I know you never let anyone else call you that, but since it’s just us, I figured I would call you by the name that brings you the most love and the most comfort.

Maddie. This was during some of your first days in D.C. I look at this picture now and see the smile and joy of a young woman full of hope, promise and determination.

You've exceeded every expectation, and made it to the city of your dreams, at the school of your dreams, pursuing the career of your dreams. What comes over the course of these next four years you could have never imagined. But little did you know, you have been subconsciously manifesting all of your accomplishments since you were just eight years old.

I know every up and coming journalist says “Oh, I’ve wanted to be a journalist since I was five years old!” and whether made up or true for others, you knew this was the only path for you. In Ms. Alves’ third grade class, you were assigned the “What Will I Be When I Grow Up” project, and you, with all of confidence and assuredness of someone much older and wiser than your eight year old self, went up to your teacher’s desk at the end of class and said, “Ms. Alves, I want to be a news reporter.” Even now, I remember the surprised look on her face, at you saying such a specific career, compared to those of your peers that stuck with the usual aspirations of becoming a doctor, police officer or firefighter . But after she took a moment to process and wipe the surprise off her face, she just smiled and said, “Julia, I know that you will be the best news reporter I have ever seen.”

And since that day, not once have you wavered from your passion and goal. You positioned yourself to go to the best school in the best city with the best instructors that you knew would shape and foster you into who you have always wanted to be.

And, like with everything, it came with challenges. It came with countless doubts, losses, heartbreaks, and seemingly insurmountable traumas. But still, you rose.

You rose to become the president of Howard University’s Association of Black Journalists. You rose to become the Deputy Editor-In-Chief of The Liberato, a publication that didn’t even exist before you stepped on that campus, but you helped foster and develop it. You rose to having two successful internships in the middle of a global pandemic. You rose to successfully completing your Senior Capstone course. You rose to having two simultaneous internship offers during your last semester of undergrad. You rose to having a full-time post-graduate offer and several other interviews 7 months before you walk across that stage. And you will rise to becoming a first-generation college graduate.

So every night, when you would listen to Maya Angelou’s “And Still I Rise,” on YouTube before you went to bed, know that that is you.

Your time as a pupil of Howard University’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications was as successful as it could have been. You learned to work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity and to think critically, creatively and independently.

Your time as a NewsVisionary gave you all the keys to success that you need to thrive in any and all future endeavors. You now know how to professionally shoot, light, mic and edit stories for broadcast, and a reel and professional ePortfolio website to show for it.

I am so, so proud of you. Proud of us. Proud of me. And I know we have a hard time saying it aloud, but deep down in our hearts, we know.

Maddie, I love who you were then, and I hope you love where we are now.

Blessings to The Most High.

Love always,

Julia Madison Weng