By Mia Gallagher · Sports Editor
In all honesty, I never wanted to be The Collegian’s Sports editor.
That may come as a shock to many of you. I’m an athlete, after all. I write action-packed game summaries and put together eye-catching layout designs every week.
I’ve made time for Collegian sports even when I’ve had no time to give. It seems like the perfect gig, right? But the truth is, before becoming the Sports editor, I had never written a Sports story, nor had any particular desire to.
When I first came to Grove City four years ago, I was thrilled to find out anyone could write for The Collegian. I had worked for my high school’s newspaper for two years, and I wasn’t ready to give up student journalism quite yet.
Back then, I was always the first person to respond to the emails from then Community Editor Violet Whitmore ’25. I loved interviewing current students and alumni; it was such a joy to bring their incredible stories to life.
At the end of my freshman year, everyone on staff thought I would take over the Community section from Violet. But given my insane academic and athletic schedule, I ended up turning the position down, opting to just write and copy edit instead.
I didn’t regret this decision at the time. (Emily Fox absolutely killed it as Community editor after all.) I still don’t. But I will admit that when I was again offered an editor position at the end of sophomore year, I was a little disappointed to receive Sports.
Funnily enough, my lacrosse journey parallels my journalism journey quite well. I started lacrosse and the newspaper in my junior year of high school. I knew I wasn’t ready to give either up just yet. And for the first three years of college, I found myself struggling to truly love both.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my teammates and The Collegian staff. I wouldn’t trade the relationships I’ve made for anything. Being a backup goalie, however, was so defeating mentally.
Being Sports editor, however, was so disappointing initially. I wanted to be so much more. But I felt like I couldn’t be with the cards I had been dealt.
Last spring, everything began to change. For the paper, it started with an email I had been sent from an athlete I had interviewed, saying how much they loved the article and appreciated me for my work.
For lacrosse, it was winning our team’s second PAC championship and getting to play a quarter in our NCAA game. Surrounded by the joy of athletes whose stories I’ve told or been a part of, I began to heal.
Mindset is such a powerful thing. More than half of any battle you face in life will be mental. How you frame your thoughts matters. And what you choose to focus on will determine future outcomes.
Once I began to love the process of writing sports stories and playing lacrosse, I found so much abundant joy and peace. A snappy lead, a heartfelt quote, a fantastic save, a joyful post-game celly — all of these little victories have truly made the last year at Grove City one of the best of my life. And my incredible teammates and Collegian family make saying goodbye to this paper, this sport and this place one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
So if I can leave you with any advice, it’s this: Don’t let thoughts of “what should have been” or “what could have been” control your life. The only things you can truly control are your attitude and effort. And once you begin to find joy in the process, you’ll find it’s impossible not to love the cards you’ve been dealt.
