Writing for The Covington News has helped me in many ways since I first became an intern in 2019.

 As I went through my high school years at Alcovy High, I began to love to write about sports and I later began to want to become a sports writer. 

I wrote for the student paper at Alcovy then I wrote for the KSU Sentinel during my first two years on campus at Kennesaw State University.

I moved back home after my first two years on campus to do my schooling online and that is where I was able to earn an internship with The Covington News as a freelance sportswriter. 

I still remember the first event I ever covered, which was a Social Circle playoff baseball game. It was there where I first began to get hands on with talking to players and coaches. 

Being a member of the sports team has taught me a lot about being a journalist and it has given me experience in writing about sports and topics that I was unfamiliar with at the time. 

The reason I write about sports is the same now as it was when I got the internship, which is to tell the sports stories   that you cannot see or learn by just  watching the game.  I fell in love with the stories that I learned behind the scenes and how those events translate to the games in all sports at all levels. To me, it is the team building and preparation behind the scenes that make a team or player great, and those are the stories I want to pursue and give everyone insight to.

Working at The Covington News has allowed me the opportunity to meet great student-athletes and to learn their stories along with the coaches that I have met along the way. Meeting and talking with the players and coaches has allowed me to create strong relationships and I have always wanted to build strong relationships with athletes and coaches as a member of the press. I think that over the years, The Covington News has been able to establish a reputation of having those relationships with the high school athletic programs in the area, because having that strong bond makes all of our jobs easier.

As I look back on the last four years, I feel like I have grown tremendously as a journalist because of The Covington News and the experiences it has given me. If it was not for working here, I would not have found my love for photography, which has grown right along with the writing. 

Lastly, I think the people I have met at The Covington News during my time there are one of the biggest reasons I love what I do. I have been able to meet amazing journalists and photographers who have all taught me something about the profession that I will always take with me. And that is something I will never forget. 

Garrett Pitts is a correspondent for The Covington News. Email news@covnews.com to contact him.