{"id":7056,"date":"2021-06-26T03:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T20:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/?p=7056"},"modified":"2021-07-08T04:09:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T21:09:11","slug":"acc-alumni-making-a-mark-in-west-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/acc-alumni-making-a-mark-in-west-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC Alumni Making a Mark in West Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Pete Ramirez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tIt\u2019s not uncommon for a portion of students to find their way back to school at Austin Community College. Sarah Vaszquez enrolled at Texas State University immediately after graduating high school. Eight years later, she enrolled at ACC.  Now, Vasquez is a freelance journalist and photographer whose work can be found in the New York Times, Texas Tribune, Texas Highways Magazine and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tIt is common for students, of any age, to start here in order to get there. After graduating high school, Vasquez became a student at Texas State University. About two years into her higher education journey, she decided the best thing for herself was to take a break from school. During her time away from school Vasquez began writing her own blog called So Many Bands<\/a>, which covered the independent music scene in Austin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t\u201cI was interviewing anybody and everybody who would let me,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cI was so shy, my brother would sometimes ask band members if I could interview them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAfter a few years, Vasquez decided to step back into the world of academia as an ACC student. In her first semester, she was recruited to work for ACCENT\u2019s newspaper, which had its last publication in 2014.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t\u201c[ACCENT] gave me the space to learn everything I wanted to learn,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cI learned photography, how to edit audio and work on video.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tWhile working for ACCENT, Vaszquez picked up as many assignments as she could to become the Campus Editor and, eventually, Assistant Editor. Vasquez credits ACCENT for giving her low-stakes opportunities to grow as a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sarah
Vasquez (right), in 2011, works in the ACCENT newsroom to pull together the latest edition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\t\u201cI feel like ACC legitimized my career,\u201d Vasquez said.  \u201cIt opened so many doors for me and gave me confidence to come out of my shell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAfter graduating from ACC with her associate\u2019s degree in journalism, Vasquez was selected to take part in the Poynter Institute\u2019s fellowship for a semester which is one of the most recognized schools of journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAfter completing her fellowship, Vasquez returned to Texas State University. She quickly fell into the fold at the student-run radio station, KTSW 89.9, where she continued to develop her journalism skills in an audio format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t\u201cI don\u2019t think I would\u2019ve been as prepared for the work at the university level if it wasn\u2019t for ACC,\u201d Vasquez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vasquez received her bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism from Texas State in 2012 and decided to take a four-month internship with Marfa Public Radio. After growing up in the fast-paced Austin area, she found joy and calm in the slower-paced west Texas town. Half-way through the internship she began working at the Big Bend Sentinel part-time. After the internship ended, Vasquez was hired as a full-time staff member for the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t\u201cI was the general assignments reporter [at the Sentinel], so I covered everything,\u201d Vasquez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tIn 2016, after working for the Big Bend Sentinel for three years, Vasquez decided to go her own way and become a freelance journalist and photographer covering the west Texas area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vasquez\u2019s photography and writing<\/a> for the Texas Tribune during February\u2019s winter storm was essential coverage for rural west Texas communities that are often overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although her path to ACC was not straightforward, Vasquez\u2019s story is a testament to the valuable opportunities and connections that can be made at ACC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[ACC] exceeded my expectations,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cI had no idea I would go on this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vasquez plans to continue her work as a freelance journalist and photographer in the west Texas region.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Vasquez (right) interviews an ACC student for ACCENT while on campus when she attended the school in 2009. Photo taken by Karissa Rodriguez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4103,"featured_media":7057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1127,12],"tags":[1086,1072,1104,887],"class_list":["post-7056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-news","tag-career","tag-studentmedia","tag-studentnews","tag-alumni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}