Inside Out

Andrew Wigger

https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_AndrewWigger02.jpg

July 21 marked the one-year anniversary of when I started as a staff writer at The Newberry Observer. This year has flown by. I keep thinking to myself that I just started yesterday.

My first day on the job, I came an hour earlier than I was supposed to and I had more butterflies in my stomach than there were outside. My assignment on my first day was going to the Council on Aging where the lieutenant governor was speaking.

Being able to meet the lieutenant governor on my first day of work? I have to say — not too shabby. I was excited for this opportunity because I love politics and I was able to write my first byline in short order.

A lot changed for me after that first week. During the year, I have learned a lot about Newberry County and I have grown as a journalist because of what I have learned.

When I first got here I thought it would be hard for people to accept me since I am not from Newberry like many of the previous reporters. The only people I knew were those I met while attending Newberry College and the only town event I knew outside of the college was Oktoberfest.

However, I quickly learned it is not difficult to become aware of what is happening in the county.

Elyssa Parnell, who I have known since college, told me all about the events in the county. After about six explanations I understood what most of them were.

My first event in Newberry County was actually the Little Mountain Reunion. Elyssa and I attended together, and I remember making the comment that she knew everyone there. She first credited her church for that, but she also told me once I have been in this job a while the same thing would happen to me.

Well, Elyssa was right. After a few months I began to know more and more people. Whenever I go out in public, I usually run into at least two people I have met through work. And after about six months, people started asking for Andrew, not Kevin or “that male reporter.”

Over the past 12 months I have grown as a reporter, and not just in name recognition. Honestly, when I first started working here I was intimidated. I never really thought I could reach the level of Elyssa or Kevin in their abilities as a journalist.

My content manager, Patricia Edwards, told me that no two people write the same, meaning that comparing my work to anyone else was pointless because each of us is different, not only as people but as journalists. Working with Elyssa has allowed me to improve my skills. No, I do not write like Elyssa, but thanks to her, I have learned to ask questions that never occurred to me.

Comparing my work a year ago to today, I would say it has improved. I have to credit that change to three people: Elyssa for helping guide me, Patricia for mentoring me and teaching me, and my college professor Jodie Peeler, who has always been there with advice and a kind word.

Another group that has helped me grow as a journalist are my critics. People used to make snide comments about my writing and it used to bother me but now, the only opinions that matter are mine and Patricia’s.

I can’t say I have never made mistakes, or that I never will again. I am human, after all. But this past year has taught me to learn from my mistakes and let those who decide to whisper behind my back go on with it. A true critic will tell you in person and guide you, not snicker behind you and hope you fail.

Andrew Wigger is a staff writer for The Newberry Observer and can be reached at awigger@civitasmedia.com. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the newspaper’s opinion.