Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Zavala.
Hi Luis, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Before I entered community college, all I wanted to do was to be a writer. Therefore, I knew journalism would help me achieve that, but I wasn’t sure what I could write about or what my limits were. All I knew was that I could write in journalism, and this was at the beginning of 2020. In the summer of 2020, I watched crime shows and documentaries, as we couldn’t go outside because of the pandemic. As a result of these shows and documentaries, my interest in Forensic Science began. Fast-forward to 2021, I started community college at Southwestern College with a double major in Chemistry and Literature. As the semester went on, I realized this wasn’t for me. I couldn’t ignore my passion for writing or reading any longer.
This passion began when my mom would take my sister and me to the Chula Vista library to pick out books to read. I started with picture and movie books, and now I love biographies, history, and fiction books. Anyway, when Fall of 2021 came around, I began my Journalism career. Throughout Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Fall 2022, I took many journalism classes that prepared me for the newspaper class. In the spring of 2023, I took my first hands-on journalism class, which was a newspaper production class.
I joined the Southwestern College “The Sun” newspaper, I was afraid at first because I had never taken a newspaper class before. Therefore, I wasn’t sure if I had what it took. But many of us were new, and that allowed us to be a team. A team in which we all helped each other, a team in which we were in everything together. Through support from my colleagues, editors, co-editor, and our professor, I found my voice as a staff writer, assistant arts editor, and viewpoints writer/co-editor. This is where I got to practice, hone, and craft my journalism skills: Interviewing, reporting, editing, communication, pitching story ideas, etc. I found a voice that students could relate to, as it was written by a student who went through the same troubles at a community college. One of the stories I wrote, which was about a counselor shortage at Southwestern College, won me some awards. Something I never thought I would be able to say, because I always saw myself as a writer, but not an award-winning writer. Our professor encouraged me to apply for the 2024 San Diego Society of Professional Journalists Scholarships. If winning awards was unbelievable, winning a scholarship, let alone two, was unthinkable.
Ever since I was in 8th-9th grade, I knew which university I wanted to attend. I had my eyes on one school, San Diego State University. I applied to several universities, San Diego State University, CSU Long Beach, and CSU Bakersfield, among others. One day in March, just like I do every day, I checked my email. And I saw this email from SDSU titled “Congratulations, Luis!”. This was how I found out I got accepted to my dream school. I texted my friend, who also got accepted, and shared the news with my family. We were all excited about what was next.
As I enter my senior year in the fall, I realize I made the right choice. I’ve met many new people I call friends, and made new connections in Journalism and the literary realm. I’ve joined even more student organizations (student clubs), which have helped further my writing goals and aspirations. Among them is SDSU’s newspaper, “The Daily Aztec”. I continued writing for the Opinions section, and simultaneously, I began writing for the Arts and Culture section. I’ve expanded my writing skills by writing about my art interests: writing, reading, books, movies, music, and shows.
Currently, I’m doing my first internship with the Global Neighborhood Project. I’m looking forward to being a part of this, and I look forward to what’s in store for my senior year.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It became clearer once I found my footing and my area of journalism. Whereas, when I first started, I had no idea what I was doing. It’s just a matter of trying out new things, you may not like them, but sometimes that’s how you find what you are interested in. Once you surround yourself with the right people, it’s all smooth sailing from there.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a journalism major because I love to write. Around the same time I began my journalism career, I also started writing creatively. By creatively, I mean writing poems about the rollercoaster that is life. At Southwestern College, I joined their creative writing magazine “The Vagabond”, and I submitted several poems, which got published. At SDSU, I continued this tradition by submitting, and being a part of “Creative Collective Magazine”.
I’m known for being creative, through my journalistic writing and my poetic writing. I’m proud of both, because I write differently with each avenue. When I’m reading books, graphic novels, listening to music, or reading a newspaper, if there’s a passage that stands out to me, I like to incorporate that in either a journalism story or a poem. I changed it so it can be my voice and my own words, because I take pride in being original.
With journalism, I can write and showcase people’s stories, good, fun, and comprehensive stories. And with poetry, I can write freely, creatively, and in a personal way. Many friends of mine have praised my poems, so much so that I got the opportunity to be on KNSJ 89.1 radio station. I was invited to the “Electric Picnic” program, a platform for writers and poets to share their work on air. I talked about some of my poems and the inspiration behind them. That was an awesome experience.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Recently, at a family Christmas dinner, my mom shared a story from when I was in kindergarten or elementary school. There was a competition in our writing class. This contest was to write a story, and the best stories would be published in a short story collection. But my mom said that my story got published in that book. I vaguely remember this, as I was very young, although I do remember having a copy of it. I think young me, the aspiring writer, would be happy and in shock at what I’ve done since and what’s left to be done.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/luiszav20
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luisz0220
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luiszavala20/
Image Credits
All are taken by me. Except the one where the students are holding their scholarships, I’m the one who’s holding two scholarships. This photo was taken by the SDSU JMS Instagram.
