By HUNTER C. BOMAR
I am grateful to have worked at the Keizertimes.
In December of 2018, I graduated from George Fox University; I was leaving with my communications degree in hand hoping to make my mark. After leaving the safety of the school and putting my graduation cap in the closet, post-graduate life grimly welcomed me to the real world. Months went by after I received my diploma and I still hadn’t found a job. The pressure of not failing to launch weighed on my shoulders. Job denial after job denial landed in my lap and discouragement became my daily cross to bear.
What’s worse, after one job interview, I got my car towed in Portland because it was parked two inches into a no parking zone. Not only did I have to shell out $552 to get the car back, I didn’t even get the job. This, too, pulled me down deeper into a lack of hope and even a lack of belief in myself.
Needless to say, my excitement about not having homework and being out of school began to wear off day by day. Amid my self-pitying funk, a family friend sent me a text about a part-time job position. It was a community journalist position at the Keizertimes. The job was in my hometown and would be a position where I could utilize my degree; I applied immediately. The job application involved providing writing samples as well as doing a brief report on an upcoming community event. The event I was tasked to write about was the Chemawa Indian School Spring Pow Wow. I began writing and doing what I needed to provide the best application I could. After submitting the final piece of my application and doing an interview with Keizertimes publisher, I was offered the position. Things began to look up. The months following involved crafting my news writing abilities, and honing in my capabilities to collect all the details needed to tell a good news story, as well as comical learning that it is spelled Keizertimes and not Keizer Times.
The value of a small community newspaper was also impressed upon me. I learned the importance of not just paying attention to the news occurring around the world but giving attention to the local news that affects my neighbor living down the street. The Keizertimes had been a blessing to me, and I have been provided with skills I will use for the rest of my life.
(Hunter Bomar was employed as a community reporter for the Keizertimes in 2019.)