Stephen Sharp

Catching Up to Reach My Dreams

Life rarely, if ever, works out according to plan. A person sets out to achieve goals in life and then works hard to reach the target. My goal since birth in April 1985 was to be a journalist or broadcaster in the sports world. Baseball, basketball, football and international soccer were interests of mine, and I was ready to do everything possible to write or to talk about them.

From the beginning of my life, I always sat in front of the television during a sporting event giving my own running commentary, usually to the displeasure of those in the room. As I grew up, those habits were very hard to let go. Through my early teen years, I began to take in every possible game I could, be it live or on television. I decided for sure that there no other career would be better.

After graduating from Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, La., in 2003, things seemed to be progressing nicely for me. I enrolled at Louisiana State University and immediately began to immerse myself in the college life. I attended parties, football games, tailgate parties and the like. Unfortunately, I also became immersed in the freedom that college life allowed. Skipping class and missing assignments became a regular occurrence, and I began to realize that, perhaps, I wasn’t cut out for a university.

Over the next three years, I worked as a singer in my church, and I also did part-time work in the sports department for The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge. During this time, I also began exploring some new interests. I began playing poker on a regular basis and managed to make decent money doing it. Poker kept my mind sharp while I wasn’t in school and also improved my people skills. I also began to take an interest in dogs, and that led to part-time work as a house and dog sitter. These jobs were fun, but something was always missing, and I knew it.

I always wanted to get back into school, but I lacked the initiative and drive to fill out the paperwork for re-admission. My initiative came at a party on New Year’s Day in 2007 in a rather unexpected form. I decided to be punctual by showing up early, and it paid off. I met my future girlfriend and had a great conversation about life with her before everyone else arrived. She listened to my story and encouraged me to get back toward my goals and to go back to school. As hard as it was, I took that suggestion and re-applied for the Fall 2007 semester at LSU. With a strong support base now in place, I made straight A’s in my first semester back in school. I then followed it up with a strong performance the following spring.

Before long, I decided on the field of communication studies as the best path to my dreams because I had always been fascinated by interaction with humans and why we respond to each other in the ways we do. I believed that comprehensive knowledge of communication, combined with a love for writing, could lead to a successful career. Whether it is in a newsroom, television studio or radio broadcast booth, I have no intention of abandoning my dream after coming this far, and I will not rest until it’s seen through until the end.

I thought after dropping out of college that the landscape of my life had been significantly altered beyond repair. I wanted to be a sportswriter or sports broadcaster, but those dreams appeared to slip away. With a fresh start and a new outlook on life, my dreams are now well within my reach.