Thank you, 2024!

Me standing at SHI Stadium while working a college football game on Sunday, Nov. 23, in Piscataway, N.J. (Photo/Anushka Dhariwal)

FOSTER CITY, Calif. - 2024 was one of the best years of my life. I worked two campus jobs and led two student organizations — while freelancing as a photographer and attending grad school full-time. It’s been a tough road, but I learned to network, plan events, and lead supportive, communicative and productive teams.

Some accomplishments I’m particularly proud of:

• Published in TIME Magazine

• Won awards for my multimedia coverage of the historic 2023 Rutgers faculty strike

• Nominated for two Intercollegiate Broadcasting System 2025 awards

• Covered House and Senate campaigns as a photojournalist and for the radio, set up broadcast equipment live at candidate headquarters on Election Night

• Traveled to Maryland and Arizona to cover major sports games

• Planned and hosted networking events that brought together over 300 Rutgers students and alumni

• Had a profile published about my student involvement and early career journey by the Rutgers School of Communication & Information

• Maintained a 4.0 GPA in the second and third semesters of my graduate classes

• Learned new skills in Canva, Adobe Express, and DAW software

• Finally finished books I’ve been meaning to read for years, including The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

I can’t believe I’m about to graduate from Rutgers a second time. I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunities I received and took advantage of. And of course, I wouldn’t be here without my family, friends and girlfriend. Here’s to a great 2025!