I still remember my first semester at UF in 2012.
It was an uneventful one. I didn’t make many friends. I slept too much and drank too little. I actually went to my 8:30 a.m. political science class. Just how every college freshman dreams it up, right?
There was this hole in me. Something was missing.
Five (hundred) years later, I’m kicking myself for ever wasting my time in Gainesville not pursuing my dreams and the things that make me happy. My advice to you, no matter your major or year, is to do the same.
In my freshman Spring semester, I joined Florida’s club baseball team and found what I thought would be fulfilling enough. Baseball, road trips and great friends. What could be better?
Still, though, I sought more. Then in the Fall of 2014, the Alligator gave me a shot.
To be honest, that semester was hell. I dreaded each day I was faced with covering local and campus news. On countless occasions, I’d pounce on some unsuspecting passerby on campus, bombarding her with questions about the new-to-town Uber or her opinion on net neutrality. There were high points, but really, I should’ve been fired had it not been for a few patient editors (thanks, Rachel Crosby, Colleen Wright, Kathryn Varn and Kristan Wiggins).
But it was the ass-kicking challenge I needed. It also opened the most important door I encountered while at UF: the sports department.
Yes, back before the Alligator’s headquarters moved to the Gainesville Sun’s location, four or five of us would test claustrophobia’s limits while copy editing inside one of the old frat house’s rickety rooms. Thanks to multiple friends along the way (Jordan McPherson, Eden Otero, Graham Hall), I was given the chance to cover UF softball’s national championship team in 2015, a season in which I interviewed the renowned Jennie Finch alongside my coworker and friend, Luis Torres.
Then the rest of the dominos began to fall.
Florida’s volleyball players probably groaned every time I asked about Rhamat Alhassan’s knitting hobby, a subject I became an expert on during my time on that beat. And I can’t forget about covering the football team this past season with better writers than I (Ethan Bauer, Ian Cohen) helping me along the way.
Covering the baseball team, however, may have been the most enriching of the beats, because it landed me my dream internship following the Miami Marlins for MLB.com, which I’m enthralled to say I’ll be doing again this summer.
It’s weird to think my time as a student and writer for the Alligator is coming to an end, which unfortunately means no more Tim Tebow columns (at least not in this newspaper). But thank you to everyone who has prepared me for the real world — my professors, classmates, coworkers, friends, family and most importantly my parents. You guys rock.
Lastly, go out and make the most of your college experience. Meet people. Join organizations.
It’ll be over before you know it.
Patrick Pinak is the online sports editor. His column appears on Thursdays. Contact him at ppinak@alligator.org, and follow him on Twitter @pinakk12.
