I joke with my extended family when they ask for a reminder of what my degree is. I don’t tell them it’s journalism, I tell them it’s the OU Daily.
My first college memory isn’t a freshman-level course or a meet-and-greet event with other new students. It was stepping into the newsroom tucked inside Copeland Hall.
Hours after I moved into the Couch Center dorms and days before my first ever class — shoutout Composition I in the basement of the Physical Science Center — I attended the Daily’s open house and training session, where I met a couple mentors, some close friends and started a journey that was my entire college experience.
Four years later, I’m tied with a few fellow graduates with being the current longest-tenured employee at the Daily. I’ve written or contributed or appeared in 918 stories and collected 46 media credentials. I’ve traveled to historic venues like the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. I’ve spent countless hours in courthouses, press boxes and airports and even spied on football practice a time or two.
OU Daily's intramural basketball team my freshman year. We were a group talented at journalism, but not basketball.
It’s also taught the skills needed to thrive wherever I go next, as I graduate May 13 with a bachelor’s degree in OU Daily (journalism) and a minor in OU Daily (communications).
Born and raised in Norman, I applied to one school as a high school senior. I grew up attending OU football games located less than 10 minutes from where I grew up.
I've struggled to come to terms with graduating from the university I’ve called home my entire life. In fact, it didn’t quite hit me until I wrote my final story on OU football after the spring game on April 22.
Austin venue pictures through the years
My first game covering OU football at the spring game on April 24, 2021.
Graduation preparation like planning parties, shopping for new outfits and coordinating senior pictures has been blocked out of my brain after returning from this past winter break.
But now it feels real, and I’m coming to the realization that my time is up, and writing this farewell has forced me to reflect on some of my favorite memories.
My grandpa and I at the Texas State Fair in fall 2021. He never missed one of my stories, and always caught mistakes that accidentally made their way into a live story.
There’s camping inside Max Westheimer Airport for the arrival of football coach Brent Venables and covering OU’s Alamo Bowl win with Bob Stoops as its interim head coach. There’s also covering the Sooners’ 2021 Red River Showdown comeback in what started the legacy of future Heisman winner Caleb Williams. I also covered OU’s move to the SEC.
Some of the stories I had the most fun working on were tracing Baker Mayfield’s steps and interviewing restaurant managers over a basket of chips and queso, writing about Giselle Juarez’s comeback that sparked OU softball’s fifth national title and stumbling across superfans that haven’t missed their favorite team’s games since before I was born.
Then there’s the relationships I’ve crafted.
From left to right, Caleb McCourry, Chandler Engelbrecht, Austin Curtright and Vic Reynolds. Each served as sports editor at the Daily.
I’m going to always remember my freshman year working with Vic Reynolds, Caleb McCourry and George Stoia, who I looked up to before he even knew who I was, and now I can call a mentor and friend.
I’m going to miss everyone from the editorial board, and the daily banter and walks to the student union with Jonathan Kyncl, Chandler Engelbrecht, Francisco Gutierrez, Will Blessing, Justin Jayne and Blake Douglas. I’m also going to miss football road trips with Colton Sulley, Ray Bahner and Trey Young.
Last but not least, I’m also going to miss sitting in Seth Prince’s office and asking for advice about work, school, life or anything in between while chomping down on a handful of mints. Sometimes even throwing the football to decompress after a long day.
I sometimes hide the newsroom footballs (and get called various names) when they’re more distracting than helpful for the tasks at hand. Glad we had them to — in the in-between moments — work off some nerves as today unfolded. A news cycle we’ll remember. w/ @AustinCurtright pic.twitter.com/axlVBrP234
— Seth Prince (@seth_prince) November 30, 2021
Back to that first day at the Daily, I remember Seth sharing his trademark “Start Here Go There” phrase, but he also dished out advice that’s stuck with me to this day.
“Don’t dabble, dive in.”
Four years later, I found myself sharing the same advice to the next era of Daily staffers in my last ever sports desk meeting prior to graduation.
My first semester of being an editor at the Daily.
The OU Daily taught me resilience, and how to hone my craft despite having a global pandemic shut down campus halfway through my freshman year. It’s taught me to roll with the punches and take things as they come.
Those lessons have proved essential toward the end of my college career, as I’ve been a finalist for multiple prestigious internships that haven’t gone my way. It’s been especially difficult not knowing what’s next as I watch my fellow classmates and co-workers find their next gigs.
But one thing I’m sure of is that with a four-year degree from the OU Daily, I’ll zig when others zag and enter my next landing spot with the same confidence I had as a wide-eyed freshman four years ago.
Thanks for making my dreams come true.
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