Chhun’s Story

My favorite memory of my time with the Chips Quinn Scholars Program happened shortly after all 52 of us met for the first time in a conference room in Washington D.C. We were asked to introduce ourselves and share a little bit about what we knew about the newspaper we would work during that summer of 2005.

To make the situation even more nerve-wracking, we had to do it with a microphone in hand and in front of a large crowd.

I'm told that I had one of the funnier introductions as my nerves showed and I stumbled through my words. I said that I loved the rap group G-Unit and that I'd planned to listen to their music as I drove through several states in my Honda Civic to my internship in Yakima, Washington.

I swear everyone's introductions was much smoother.

Nonethless, this was our time to tell our story.

This was a little unusual. As journalists, we avoid drawing attention to ourselves. We try not to be the story.

For more than two decades, I've been lucky enough to tell the stories of people from all walks of life for several newspapers and publications in various states and in three different countries. This includes school teachers, sanitary workers, the rich and the poor, pro athletes, celebrities, politicians, criminals -- you name it. Not often, however, am I given the opportunity to tell my own story.

My journalism story didn't start with the Chips Quinn Scholars Class of 2005. But if it wasn't for this group, I think my story would've turned out differently.

I understand that I'm one of the few people in my group who are still in journalism. In my case, I work for the largest TV station in the Mid-South, which, for the most part, covers western Tennessee, northern Mississippi and eastern Arkansas. At FOX13 Memphis, I'm a digital content producer who writes stories for our website and help manage our social media presence. It's a shift from my days at newspapers but the work, at least for me, feels similar because I try to make sure every story I put together meets our journalistic standards of accuracy, honesty and truth.

I don't think I'd be here if it wasn't for my time with Chips Quinn and the people whom I met in that conference room. The biggest takeaway from our four-day orientation was reminding our ourselves that a big part our of our job is to tell the stories of the voiceless. 

And 20 years later, it's something I still take very seriously.

And yes, I still listen to G-Unit.