They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In that case, you could fill entire libraries with my time at Penn State. For now, this column will have to suffice.

I grew up around cameras. My mom always had a nice camera with us for special occasions, holidays, and family vacations. Almost every moment of my childhood was documented by a camera. The constant photo taken was something I wasn’t fond of at the time, but have come to appreciate as I have gotten older. The pictures have given me a window back to the times of my life I can’t remember.

Growing up with a camera around at all times, I’d often fiddle around with one. However, I never really picked up photography as a hobby for a very long time.

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, I was a junior in high school with no clear vision of where my life was going next. I didn’t know much, but I did know that I liked making things. I had started making videos for a YouTube channel called “Mad About Disney” in 2018, but that hobby ramped up when I got stuck in my house for a few months.

I loved making videos, and when the time came for my mid-pandemic college decision, I decided I wanted to become a film major. I just wasn’t sure where.

In the summer before my senior year of high school, my family went on a trip to New England to tour some colleges. That trip would change my life, but not because I found a “dream school.” It was on that trip that I decided to carry my mom’s camera, occasionally snapping a picture of my own.

I immediately fell in love with photography. I loved the ability to capture the stunning Maine coastal views and preserve them for myself and share them with others. My mom saw my instant passion and gifted me a Canon Rebel T6i as a hand-me-down to get started. I was hooked.

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I didn’t come from a Penn State family like many students do. In fact, for most of high school, I used Penn State as the example of the type of school I didn’t want to go to. “It’s too big,” I would say. I thought I was destined to stroll the quad of a school like Princeton or Boston College.

In March of 2021, I visited State College for the first time. I had already begun to shift my mindset about Penn State for a few reasons, but after a visit on a beautiful, sunny day, I was sold. I signed the digital papers. I was officially a Nittany Lion.

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I arrived at Penn State to a pretty great setup. My best friend Shane* and I had a four-person dorm room in Brumbaugh Hall all to ourselves, promptly turning a spare bed into a couch. My girlfriend Leah was just one building over.

*Shane would ultimately become a blog legend of his own, but that’s a story for a different day.

While I loved having my two closest friends all at arm’s length, I needed to branch out and find my place. It was actually Leah who noticed an email in my inbox advertising open applications to join Onward State. I had no idea what “Onward State” was, but I saw an opportunity to grow my skills as a photographer, videographer, and graphic designer, all while meeting some new friends.

At freshman convocation, I met and talked to the only other student on my floor wearing a red shirt, meaning they were the only other communications student*. It turned out they were also applying to Onward State, so after looking over each other’s applications, I officially applied.

*That other comm student was Keeley Lamm, who would go on to become Onward State’s managing editor.

I couldn’t help feeling like a fraud and that applying was a waste of time. I wasn’t a photographer. The only pictures I even had to submit were random photos from my few most recent vacations (some of which you’re seeing above).

Somehow, I got an interview, and after a successful conversation with the folks who would become my new bosses and friends, I was offered a position. Before I knew it, I was sitting in Carnegie 113, a wide-eyed freshman just excited to be there.

With my mom’s hand-me-down camera in hand, I hit the ground running. I took photos for Onward State’s social media, shot a men’s soccer game as my first ever sporting event, and covered any little event on campus that I could to build a good reputation.

I even got to accompany the football beat to an open practice. At the time, standing in front of James Franklin and company was surreal. I loved it. I was all-in, right away. The feeling I got from taking pictures for Onward State was addictive.

I became a machine at writing a “[Photo Story],” a photo-forward Onward State style of article I would write dozens of over the next four years (and the namesake for this column). I also greatly improved my skills as a writer and a graphic designer, but that’s not what this article is about, now is it?

I spent the rest of my freshman year shooting every sport under the sun, building snowmen on the Arboretum lawn, and growing ever closer to this group of strangers at Onward State. I could go on for hours about all the great stories, but I’d be here forever. Meet me at A’s Pub sometime if you’d like to hear them. I have some pictures I can show you.

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In only my second year as a staff photographer, I was hired as an editor and selected as a football photographer. I was only supposed to shoot two games, but that all changed when one of our photographers got sick three days before the game at Auburn.

They needed someone else to go. Without hesitation, I volunteered, agreeing to join the football beat on the 35-hour round-trip drive to-and-from Alabama. This was on Wednesday night. We left Friday morning, and on Saturday, I shot my first-ever college football game.

That moment of spontaneity and the amazing weekend that followed were a critical point in my career. I took a step toward my eventual role as visual editor while also learning the pure joy that Onward State can bring when you’re having fun with your friends.

As I settled into my second year of college, my parents doubled down on their support of my dreams. For Christmas, they gifted me a Nikon Z6II, retiring the hand-me-down Canon I had started with. I was, and still am, extremely grateful for this gift that significantly upgraded my equipment and allowed me to slingshot my skills to the next level.

In the spring of my sophomore year, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, with my new camera in hand. I’ve been told I talk about this semester too much, so I’ll try to keep it brief, although I could write an entire book about this semester (and my friend Kevin actually has).

Despite being away from campus, this was the semester I think I grew the most as a photographer. I was taking pictures every single day and took my first (and only) photography class of college.

While in an airport in Pisa, Italy, on my way to Copenhagen, newly appointed managing editor Keeley Lamm called and asked me to take over as Onward State’s visual editor alongside Hailey Stutzman. I giddily accepted and returned from the coolest semester ever to a new role in Onward State.

The next two years of my life revolved around Penn State football, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I got to travel all through the Midwest, surfing the sand in Indiana Dunes National Park and indulging in a highly concerning amount of Culver’s. My football travels took me to 19 states, five national parks, and one Howe water tower.

I grew a lot as a photographer during this time, getting to the point where I was finally proud of the work I was putting out, something that I couldn’t have said at the start of my football career.

In between the hectic football weekends, I kept taking pictures. As the visual editor, I took a step back from picking up every event that fell my way, choosing to instead use my time to take social photos and try to share whatever nuggets of wisdom I could offer folks on staff.

I grew ever-closer with my fellow staffers in Onward State, and as my time at Penn State began slipping away, I grew even more weary of the goodbyes that were coming.

I finished my football career with possibly the greatest consecutive streak of games that any Onward Stater has ever covered: the Big Ten Championship Game, the first-ever home playoff game, the Fiesta Bowl, and the Orange Bowl.

As I wiped away my tears on the field of Hard Rock Stadium following Penn State’s loss, I knew it was the beginning of the end.

My last few months at Penn State have been filled with lots of pictures, but not because I “have” to take them, but because I want to. Every moment of this year has been a precious, fleeting moment, and I’m doing everything I can to hold on to every last one of them.

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My entire career at Penn State was truly a [Photo Story]. Photography paved my path. It gave me a purpose here, gave me opportunities from coast to coast, and led me to some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.

However, it’s more than a “job.” My phone has tens of thousands of pictures on it, 99% of which have nothing to do with anything remotely “work” related. Pictures tell the story of our lives, and they’re one of the most cherished things we can leave behind when we’re gone. Photos preserve moments in time that we can live in forever, sharing stories and memories that are more valuable than any physical item I own.

I hope my pictures throughout this column emphasize this point. Words can get a message across, but my photos tell my story. Even if we’ve never met, you can see the joy in each picture and understand why the memories are so precious.

So take the pictures. Capture the moment. Make memories worth preserving, and then preserve them. College is indeed the best four years of your life, so make it count. Then, when you tell your stories to your kids 20 years from now, you’ll have photos to show them.

I’m so grateful to Penn State for giving me the opportunities it has, but it’s the people I’m gonna miss the most. Luckily, I have thousands of amazing photos in my camera roll that I can look back on to cherish every memory.

I don’t know where my photo story goes from here, but wherever I end up, I know I’ll have my camera.

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Now, as with any other Onward State senior column, I’d be remiss without some thank-yous. I get it if you want to scroll away now. Go take a picture for me.

I’d like to start by thanking the ghosts of Onward State past. To Matt DiSanto and Michael Tauriello- thank you for taking a chance on my vacation pictures. Without you guys giving me this opportunity, who knows where I’d be. To Alysa Rubin and Annie Kubiak- thank you for helping me grow into the photographer I am.

To Ryan Parsons, Gabe Angieri, Frankie Marzano, and Sam Fremin- thank you for showing me what Onward State is really all about. You guys made me feel like I had a family in this blog and showed me just how fun being in Onward State could be. The next round of Luella’s lagers is on me.

To Keeley Lamm and Aidan Conrad- I’m so glad that Onward State gave me you two as some of my best friends in the world. I’ll be waiting in Philly with a Beer Tour Part II itinerary whenever either of you are in town.

To CJ Doebler- You were the best Pickle’s trivia partner a guy could ask for. My only regret is that we didn’t become closer friends sooner. I hope our Mario Kart tracks will cross again one day very soon.

To Joe Lister, Nolan Wick, and Mitch Corcoran- Thanks for letting me divert our road trips to whatever fun roadside attraction I could find. Our hundreds of hours in the car together are some of my most cherished memories of my time in college. I’d listen to “Homecoming” a hundred more times if it meant I got to relive those moments.

To Hailey Stutzman- Thank you for supporting me and being the best co-visual editor I could ask for the last two years. I’m so proud of the work we were able to do together and will cherish the countless memories we’ve had for a long time.

To Michael Siroty and Matt Brown- you guys made me feel truly loved. If I ever needed a shoulder to lean on, I knew I had you guys. I have no doubt our friendship will continue long beyond the end of this column and there will be plenty more pictures of us to come.

I also need to thank Kyra Birmingham, Jack Anderson-Jussen, Sarah Lynn DeCarlo, Ella Wehmeyer, CJ Gill, Collin Ward, Cooper Cazares, Sophie Yadzinski, Ally Eaton, Hannah Guidotti, Jack Scott, Mara McKeon, Noah Flenard, and every other person on staff for being amazing people. I’m really going to miss all of you. Thank you for trusting me as your visual editor for the last two years. It truly was the greatest honor of my life, and I’ll cherish the work we did forever for the rest of my life. I’m so proud of you all. I hope you all keep taking pictures, whether you have a camera or not.

I want to thank my girlfriend Leah for being the most supportive person I could ever imagine. No matter how many weekends I missed for football travel or how many nights I scurried off to cover an event, you were always supportive and waiting for me when I got back. I’ll never forget that, and I can’t wait to photograph the rest of our lives together. I love you.

I also have to thank my family, who supported me even when I was leaving on a holiday early or missing a birthday to cover a football game. Beyond the scope of Onward State, I especially want to thank my parents for believing in my dreams and supporting me more than anyone could ever ask for. I love you both more than you know.

Finally, I want to specifically thank my mom for giving me that old camera.

I think I put it to good use.