Sierra Blaser, one of The Paper Cut’s very own alum, has been very busy since she graduated in 2022. Originally from California, Sierra moved to Arizona during COVID-19 and didn’t have a clue in the world about what she wanted to do. It was her junior year of high school and she knew she wanted to get a college degree, but she didn’t know what to pursue. Fortunately for Sierra, she was in Ms. Lange’s newspaper class and that is what sparked her desire to become a journalist. “I knew I loved newspaper and Lange kind of pitched the idea to me of starting with journalism and going from there,” she said.
Fast forward a couple of years and Sierra is now a sophomore at the University of Arizona and was just hired as a reporter for the University of Arizona’s newspaper, The Daily Wildcat. She is majoring in journalism with a minor in public relations. She took Ms. Lange’s advice and started with a journalism class in her first semester of freshman year. The class was essentially an “introduction to journalism” class to see if it was something students wanted to pursue. She, “…fell in love with it. I took a photojournalism class in my second semester and I fell in love with it even deeper. Now I’m finishing up my gen-eds and this is what I’m doing. I have the coolest major in the world.”
In Sierra’s experience, the transition from high school to college was not easy to navigate. She said the first 8 weeks were extremely difficult and that she often felt stupid because everyone else seemed so smart and appeared to know what they were doing. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She shared, “After a while, you get the hang of things and you realize that everyone is just trying to sound the smartest and everyone feels the way you do. You learn to adjust.”
Outside of school, Sierra continues to stay busy when she’s working her 4 jobs. She works part-time at Bruegger’s Bagels, she’s a writer for the School of Mining and Mineral Resources, takes shifts at Centennial Hall, and is excited to begin reporting for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. “It is a lot and I try not to think about it too much so it doesn’t bother me as much, but it keeps me busy and I love to be busy. If I’m not being productive then I feel like I need to be doing something,” Sierra said.
It is hard work trying to balance school and several jobs while trying to maintain a personal life, but it is possible. Sierra’s biggest piece of advice: set a schedule for yourself. Sierra separates her schedule into 3 categories: Your A, B, and C list. A represents what you need to get done that day. B is what you want to get done that day. C is for the days when you feel really productive and you want to get something done but it’s not a top priority. Sierra is big on making sure her priorities are straight and doing what she needs to do, but she is also big on balance. “It’s important to have one day where you don’t touch anything. On Sundays, I don’t touch work, I don’t touch school, everybody knows that that’s my day. I might hang out with my friends, I might hang out with my boyfriend, I might even take a “me” day and go get my nails done, but it’s my day.”
At this point in her sophomore year, Sierra is planning on staying in journalism. Her plan is to get her bachelor’s degree and look for a job right out of college and if she can find a job as a reporter then she will start there.
Sierra recommends Ms. Lange’s newspaper class to students who have a passion for writing and to students who are unsure of their direction, “Take the class. Even if writing isn’t what you plan to go into, Ms. Lange is a great mentor, you meet so many cool people, you get into the community, and you learn everything about the school. You even get to talk to different teachers for your interviews and maybe you’ll learn something from them. Maybe they’ll have something you’re interested in and that’s your calling. You never know unless you try.”
