In the past three years I have grown as a journalist in leaps and bounds. I went from a freshly graduated university student to my first professional journalism job – and then a world-wide pandemic was declared during my first week.
I went into local journalism prepared to hit the ground running covering local sporting and community events and instead I began my role at the Pipestone Flyer as a great hush had been whispered over my coverage area and really the whole province.
Instead of running across the city to tackle the regular and extra-ordinary ongoings of life in Wetaskiwin I was racing across the city to see if I could get a picture of toilet paper that was beginning to be a rarity on store shelves.
Despite this I re-routed and scrounged where I could for stories, not only covering the impact of COVID-19 on the community but the resilience of residents as they faced this unpredictable challenge. I wish I could say this lasted only months, but it took years before I was able to write a story without the words “COVID” or “pandemic” in it. A strange thing for many I’m sure.
In my first year at the Pipestone Flyer I worked my way up to Editor and continued to find creative ways to source stories and keep readers informed about their community.
In the past three years I have met countless people who have trusted me to tell their stories or have graciously read what I have written about their communities. From pandemic controversies, federal and local elections, big and small events alike, the Pope visiting Maskwacis, tackling stories on homelessness and community issues and so much more, I have learned so much as a journalist on the ground.
From day one there was no shutdown for my team or I, and I have worked tirelessly for the past three years to give our readers interesting and truthful stories- even if some weeks had more than others in our paper (there was only one of me, just remember that)!
Now it is time for me to hang up my journalism hat for a while as I take on a new adventure and resign as Editor of the Pipestone Flyer. My last day with the paper is March 15.
I have accepted a position with a travel company abroad and at the end of March will begin training to be a trip manager across western Europe. In other words, I am beginning the terrifying and exciting journey of moving abroad! I will lead trips in Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
I love travel and decided that there was no time like the present to work and travel at the same time. However, I promise to send travel columns when I can and you can find those in none other than the Pipestone Flyer and other Black Press publications.
Since I will not be around to keep my eye out for local on-goings if you have something you would like to see the Pipestone Flyer cover or to know about, please email christina.komives@pipestoneflyer.ca. We can’t cover something if we don’t know about it!
So on that note, thank you all for reading and being part of this chapter in my life.
Ciao for now!