LEÓN DC

With my major in Video Game Development, I’m not what’s typically considered a journalist, let alone someone who ends up writing for their university’s newspaper. After one of my classes fell through, I decided what would be my next endeavor: an internship with the paper.

To Hilltop Views,

That went by quickly.

No, seriously. I mean it. There’s an old saying that says staying busy is the best way to let time get away from you, but this was more like “time flies when you’re having fun” to me. 

With my major in Video Game Development, I’m not what’s typically considered a journalist, let alone someone who ends up writing for their university’s newspaper. All of the class-time conflicts and hours spent begging my professors to accept overlaps was rather telling on that front. But despite that, I had played around with the idea of joining Hilltop Views for a while before my internship last semester. Jena Heath wouldn’t let me hear the end of it. And after one of my classes fell through, I decided what would be my next endeavor: an internship with the paper. This was gonna be a wild ride.

And oh boy, it was.

When I stumbled into my first budget meeting I was quite lost — fish out of water kind of thing. What was I going to cover? News? Sports? I had no idea. “I’m a game developer, not a journalist,” I thought. “I can’t make a video game for the editors to print.” So, being the absolute nerd I am, I took a story on Artificial Intelligence for the Viewpoints section. 

And somehow, it turned out alright.

Hooray, I did the journalism thing! But on my way out the door following the next budget meeting, the team’s Viewpoints Editor, Sienna Wight, caught me. Honestly, I thought I’d committed a crime. Fraud? Burglary? Forgot to add a comma? Nope. Sienna asked if I could write up an article or two on the game industry. So I said “sure, why not?” I know a developer or two. It’d be fine, right?

Things just got out of hand from there.

During my tenure, I covered a wide variety of stories, ranging from Boeing to Godzilla. But the one thing I ended up covering rather often was the games industry, be it game reviews, layoffs or even how to get into the industry. But without the team at Hilltop Views supporting my deep dives into the game development world, I doubt I would have gone to anywhere near as many events, got lost around town half a dozen times, nor met some of the crazy (figuratively, most of the time) people I did. 

Ah, the things I did for print. But my story would have been very different if it wasn’t for a few specific people.

To Sienna, thank you so much for letting me cover the industry I aspire to be in. It was a lot of fun being able to explore facets of the industry I would have otherwise not had any incentive to dig up. There were so many different people to meet and places to go that I would not have had the opportunity to go to otherwise (except downtown, that place is a labyrinth. Please don’t ask me to go there. Ever).

But out of everyone, our copy editors had to deal with my tomfoolery the most. Given I have the same knowledge of AP Style as a watermelon, I’m honestly surprised neither Max nor Dalia decided to throw their laptops at me. Honestly, I’d allow it. But please no heavy objects, I’d rather not cash in on my life insurance at this point.

Tate, you had no requirement to consistently listen to my ramblings, and I certainly know you weren’t paid for it. Honestly you should have been. File for workers compensation or something. But truthfully, thanks for helping me get some pitches straight and work through more than one gnarly article. I salute your resilience.

Chole, oh holy managing editor, I thank thee for allowing me to leave Hilltop Views with my life. ‘Twas more than once that my shenanigans caused chaos yet ye did not sentence me to death. Be it the paper distribution, intern check-ins, or the talks after budget, somehow ye managed to stay sane. Congrats. Gold star for you. 

And to the rest of the team: You all made an impact at one point or the other. Good impacts. Honestly, I would put a message for each of you if I had the word count. But y’all know Claire would have my head, and I need it right now. Hilltop Views made my senior year here at St. Ed’s quite the journey. Can’t say I regret it, though.

Keep at it,

Alec Campa