My giftings reside in my hands and feet.

Words are something that have always come naturally to me. When I was young, I was the kid that always wanted to sound like an adult, both in speaking and in writing. I was always telling stories and wanted the attention of everyone in the room. In my early schooling, I latched onto grammar, and it became my most beloved subject. Combine a love of convention with a love of telling stories, and you’ve got a journalist.

Journalism has been the plan since early middle school. I wanted to see my name in the byline, and I wanted to see my work in a major publication. I knew I had a way with words, and that’s how I was going to get to that point. It wasn’t until coming to college that I realized I loved people way more than I loved writing, and it completely changed my perspective on my job as a storyteller. Instead of it being about my perfectly put-together piece, it became about showing the world who people are and why they matter.

Now that I’m in my third year at the Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia, I get to write all the time. My other biggest passion is dancing. I specialize in tap dance and am a member of the UGA Tap Dawgs. I am also on faculty at a dance studio and teach tap to 30 amazing kids each week. Dancing is quite a different form of storytelling than writing, but they both satisfy my desire to connect with an audience in a real way.

I am also a student leader at The Wesley Foundation here at UGA. Through this organization, I’m able to interact with people constantly and grow in my own faith. As a writer and a dancer, I’m learning what it looks like to use my gifts to be the “hands and feet” of Jesus here in Athens.