The Spire

Former Editor-in-Chief

I’m so happy to be contributing to the paper’s compilation of Spire alumni reports as part of its 100th Anniversary; it’s a remarkable milestone and a testament to the long-standing importance of student journalism on Mount Saint James.

I miss everything about being a part of the paper–from the excitement of publishing my first ever piece as a freshman staff writer still learning the ropes to the nitty-gritty responsibilities of serving as an Editor-in-Chief, this paper filled me with a sense of purpose few other things have.

Since graduating in 2023, I’ve written for both my high school’s magazine and Holy Cross’ career development blog on all of the amazing opportunities The Spire gave me and how formative my experience was in setting me on a path to pursue journalism as a career.

The content of those pieces include the things we so often present for others to consume– rosy accounts of successes, expressions of gratitude and generally positive anecdotes. 

I’d like to do the opposite with this report.

See, when I had written those two aforementioned pieces, I was in the midst of a postgraduate journalism fellowship that ran from August 2023 to the end of June 2024. It was a fantastic opportunity that I believed would give me a huge leg-up in a massively competitive job market.

Armed with experience, I figured I’d waltz into a job. After all, who wouldn’t want someone who had edited a college paper, completed internships with highly respected media organizations, and was wrapping up a prestigious fellowship? 

I couldn’t have been more wrong to rest on my laurels.

Starting in March 2024, I began a months-long process of incessantly applying to scores of jobs I was promptly rejected from.

Opening emails that began with “Dear Michael, thank you for your interest in the x position at y. After careful review, we regret to inform you that we will not be moving forward with your application at this time” started to feel routine.

These felt like a punch to the gut each and every time.

It was my own fault for not being more aggressive in networking and laying the groundwork to kick my foot in the door while I still had plenty of time; my tendencies to procrastinate and perhaps to think a little too highly of my talents were coming back to bite me.

At my lowest point, I found myself replaying old conversations, searching for insight I might’ve missed. One in particular came back.

I began to think of a conversation I had with Dan Shaughnessy after being connected with him while still an HC student. I asked Dan about what he thought about the state of the journalism industry, still a bright-eyed sophomore who thought he had it all figured out.

“What do I think?” Dan said over the phone. “I think it’s dying.”

I was jarred at Dan’s blunt honesty towards someone he had just been introduced to, but he did me a candid favor that I should have taken stronger heed of–journalism is a vast ocean where those who don’t swim hard enough get washed ashore.

Here are some depressing figures to back up Dan’s point: a 2021 study revealed that U.S. newsroom employment has fallen 26% since 2008. Another study predicts that this trend will continue well into the 2030’s. 

After an unfruitful job hunt in the summer ‘24, I began seriously considering switching career paths, toying with pursuing a masters in education to ultimately teach English. Before making a big decision either way, I gave myself time to think.

I reflected on all I had worked towards and if I was ready to let it all go–I decided I wasn’t.

Landing opportunities take a fair bit of luck, but as they say, you make your own luck; with this in mind, I refocused my job hunting efforts and began writing more for practice to keep my skills sharp.

In time, I finally got something–it wasn’t even a full-time opportunity, but I had heard back from a blog that covers Liverpool F.C., my favorite soccer team. I was overjoyed to at least get some positive news that I could have my sportswriting published while still searching for full-time employment.

Covering a soccer team thousands of miles away filled me with a similar joy I experienced when I was a freshman chipping in articles for The Spire again–it felt like the start of something new and exciting, giving me a hope that more chances would come my way if I kept at it.

Sure enough, two months after starting with the blog, my former manager at my first-ever internship at the Staten Island Advance, my hometown newspaper, asked me if I was still writing about sports. 

I sure am, I told him.

In December of 2024, I began freelancing for the Advance, not saying no to a single story the paper’s sports editor asked me to cover.

High school wrestling, despite never attending a match before? Sure thing. 

Fencing? I barely knew the difference between foil and saber, but I dove in anyway.

This time freelancing taught me that availability is the best ability, and that if you’re not afraid to ask questions, good things will follow.

Towards the end of March, almost a year after I began my initial job search, I received an offer from the Advance to come on full time. I almost started to cry when I got the news.

The time it took to find something for sure felt like an eternity, but in the grand scheme of a career, this will more or less be the blink of an eye.

But honestly, I think that this period of self-doubt was something I needed–for too long, I had made things work by being comfortable with where I was at or what I was writing about, rarely asking myself what I could do to make sure I wouldn’t wash ashore.

Now, I know that this field is too competitive to not dedicate everything you have to it, which is what I will leave readers with a prospective interest in journalism as a career with.

Passion is often talked about as the most important thing in choosing a career, but in a field in which almost everyone is ultra-passionate in the subject they’re writing about, work-rate is paramount.

Asked to go cover a lacrosse game at 9 A.M. on a Sunday? Do it.

Someone needs you to attend a community board meeting to take notes and photos? Sign yourself up.

I believe that things have unfolded for me exactly as they were supposed to–I now have the motivation to not take a single thing for granted, and that while this field is damned hard to break into, you can’t let it break you down. Just keep writing.

Featured image courtesy of College of the Holy Cross