For those who don’t know me: hello, I’m Emma, a sophomore psychology major and a reporter for The Current Sauce. I joined The Current Sauce in the Spring 2026 semester with really no expectations, not even fully expecting to get accepted into this organization. Through my experience this semester, I’ve learned so much both about myself and the town of Natchitoches that I’ve grown to love.

I’m from the arguably boring town of Denham Springs, where everyone knows everyone, but when I moved to Natchitoches, this couldn’t be further from the case. It was harder than expected to carve out my place within the campus and find like-minded people who shared my interests, when I was so used to having that for my high school years.

I like creative writing and find it utterly remarkable how you can convey a mental image from your head to someone else’s through a menagerie of words. Furthermore, I wanted a place to cultivate this skill without the daunting prospect of it being graded by a professor, and that drew me to The Current Sauce.

My time here this semester has been turbulent, but in the best way possible. I use the word turbulent because I don’t just want to say this semester has been easy. After all, it hasn’t. We have very quick deadlines, and there are high, but reasonable, expectations with all that work within The Current Sauce.

It is a bit of an adrenaline jump every week. You are stressed getting your story done during the week, but on Fridays, the normal due date for our work, it is the most electric feeling because we have all proved once again that we can work well under pressure. This process is repeated every week, giving the impression of turbulence.

I used to hate group work, and transparently still have slight reservations, but I’ve learned so much about how to work well within a team in different settings! I’ve learned that I don’t have to be perfect at everything, and that not being great at something doesn’t mean I’ve failed, but instead shines a light on someone else having that capability. It’s not even that the critiques given are that you’re wrong, either, it’s that everyone interprets things differently. It’s neither right nor wrong, just a mass sense of ambiguity. Very philosophical, I know.

Of course, I could go on about time management, dedication, pursuing the truth and all these niche topics that are a given to experience when you pursue something new, but I want to be transparent in my last act as a reporter for this semester and dig deep into the things that even I may not want to admit to myself.

I’ve covered many different things, from businesses to musical events, but seeing that this work has an impact on the community of Natchitoches is the best part of this job, truly. My favorite of these would have to be a tie between “Columbian Kitchen is changing the cultural landscape of food in Natchitoches” and “Saxophone recital showcases poise and discipline through contemporary mastery.” You could see the passion and the dream that all these individuals had, and through my writing, what the interviewees said and drawing my own conclusions, The Current Sauce helped them out through publicity and on a business level.

Serving something bigger than yourself is the biggest part of The Current Sauce, and in turn, the biggest takeaway from this final piece of my Spring 2026 tenure as a reporter.

I want to leave you guys with a piece of advice: if anyone is hesitating about doing something because they think they aren’t enough or just have doubts, as I did when I applied to The Current Sauce, just do it.

My favorite quote about this is from Netflix’s “Tales of Arcadia,” where in a soliloquy-adjacent proclamation, the main character says, “Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor, that to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero.” I will never forget that quote, just as I will never forget what I’ve experienced this semester and how it has made me a better person.

Thank you to all who work within The Current Sauce for your immeasurable support, and most of all, thank you to Kallie Bourgeois, my editor-in-chief, for always believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself.