BY CAMAL PETRO
cppetro@go.olemiss.edu
I have known for most of my life I would attend Ole Miss, but I didn’t necessarily know I would choose the path of journalism. I’ve always been interested in playing, watching and learning about different sports, so sports journalism was a natural fit for me.
Growing up and in high school, I never really thought of myself as a good writer. Even during my freshman year, I thought I struggled at it. Looking back, it’s kind of funny how I ended up choosing a career in journalism.
Thanks to some great teachers in the journalism department, I would like to think I have improved vastly since my first journalism class. One of the best feelings is having a friend tell you, “Great article Camal.”
During my two years on The Daily Mississippian staff, I have had a lot of opportunities to cover different sports and interview various players and coaches. My first article, in the summer of 2011, introduced the new assistant basketball coaches, and my last assignment was covering a baseball series earlier this semester.
I have also gotten the opportunity to freelance for my hometown paper, the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. I am currently under a two-year contract, and while with the Sun Herald, I covered Houston Nutt’s and Pete Boone’s final press conference, as well as a fan reaction story. I also covered the press conference announcing the hiring of current head football coach Hugh Freeze.
I just want to thank my editors, fellow writers, the media relations department, my parents, friends, players and coaches that I’ve interviewed and anybody else I have worked with or has helped me during my time here at Ole Miss. I really appreciate everything they’ve done, and I look forward to using what I’ve learned post-graduation.
As much as I’m going to miss college, and I wish it wasn’t over, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me. I guess we all must enter the real world sooner or later.
