Cat with a Chat

It’s been four years since I first stepped onto the campus of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois… Four years since I walked into Old Main for the first time, unsure of who I was, what I wanted, or what I had to say.

Back then, everything felt new and exciting, like the world was in the palm of my hands, a new place full of new faces and possibilities. It was the start of a new chapter in my life that is now coming to a close, with graduation right around the corner.

Hi, my name is Lexi Woodcock, and welcome back to Cat With A Chat, where I reflect on my final semester at Augustana College as a part of my Senior Inquiry (SI) multimedia project. Today’s episode dives into my journey of finding my voice through my work in storytelling and multimedia journalism.

We talk a lot about finding your voice in college, but what does that really mean? Is it experience? Is it confidence? Or is it something that develops slowly over time without you even realizing? For me, it wasn’t just one moment. It was a process.

My first semester at Augustana, I joined the campus newspaper, the Augustana Observer, as an Arts & Culture reporter. And at the time, I didn’t think much of it. I just knew that I wanted to get involved and start building my experience. Of course, I was just starting to learn the basics. How to structure a story, how to ask questions, how to meet deadlines. But more than anything, I was beginning to learn how to trust myself. And that didn’t come easily.

Every interview felt a little intimidating. Every article felt like something I had to prove that I was capable of writing. And as only a First-Year, I wasn’t confident in my voice yet. I was just trying to find it. But over time, something started to shift. The more stories I told, the more I realized that journalism isn’t just about the writing. It’s about the people. It’s about listening. It’s about asking better questions and understanding perspectives outside of your own.

And slowly, without even realizing it, I started to grow more comfortable. Not just in what I was saying, but in how I was saying it. And that’s where I began to find my voice. Not by speaking louder, but by learning how to listen better. As the semesters went on, I took on more responsibility within the newspaper, from becoming a section editor to helping promote our work online on social media. What started as simply writing stories eventually turned into something much bigger. But at the same time, my experiences in journalism were expanding beyond just one space.

At the start of my sophomore year, I began working for WVIK, Quad Cities NPR as an intern reporter. And that experience stayed with me up to my final year at Augustana. Being involved in radio broadcasting introduced me to storytelling in a completely different way. It made me think about voice not just as something you develop, but something that people actually hear. It pushed me to consider tone, pacing, and presence, things that I hadn’t fully thought about before.

Then, the summer going into my junior year, I expanded that experience even further by working with the Quad-City Times. That opportunity placed me in a professional newsroom environment where I was able to apply everything I had been learning in a more real-world setting.

I’ve always considered myself a social person. Connecting with people has never been something that I’ve shied away from, but these roles pushed that part of me even further. They challenged me to grow, not just personally, but professionally. They taught me how to engage with people in a more intentional way, how to tell stories that matter to a broader audience, and how to see myself as part of a larger community. Through my work in journalism, both on and off campus, I became more connected not just to Augustana, but to the community surrounding it.

And by my senior year, I had come full circle, still working for the Augustana observer, but this time as Co-Editor-In-Chief alongside my friend and peer, Rae Barry, who I’ve gotten to grow my voice alongside with since our first year here together at Augustana. And that’s when it really hit me that it wasn’t just about my own work.

It was about leading a team, making decisions, and helping shape the voice of an entire publication. It was about guiding others who were once in the same position. I was unsure, learning, and still trying to find their place and their voice. And through that, my voice became even stronger. Not perfect or fully defined yet, but definitely stronger.

And it feels especially meaningful to be recording this podcast now, sitting back in the same space at WVIK, where so much of that growth has happened. Sitting in the studio, knowing it’s most likely my last time here, there’s a certain sense of nostalgia that’s hard to ignore. This place has been more than just a station to me. It’s been a place where I learned to be heard.

Looking back now, I can see that finding my voice wasn’t something that happened overnight. It happened in the small moments, in the late nights, editing stories and all the interviews that pushed me out of my comfort zone. All the times replaying my voice in the studio, making sure it sounded just right. It was all built over time, and it’s still growing.

Through this Senior Inquiry project, Cat With A Chat, I’ve been able to reflect on these experiences in a more intentional way. This podcast and my blog have given me the space not just to document my journey, but to understand it, to see how everything connects, to recognize how far I’ve come, and to realize that my voice wasn’t something that I was supposed to have all along. It’s something that I developed through experience, challenge, and growth.

As I get ready to graduate, I don’t feel like I have everything figured out, but I do feel more confident in myself, more confident in my voice, and more willing to use it. And maybe that’s what this experience has been all about. Not becoming someone completely different or figuring out exactly who I am, but growing into someone I didn’t fully imagine when I first began.

Thank you all so much for tuning in to this week’s episode of Cat With A Chat. As I reflect on my final semester at Augustana College, I’m grateful for the experiences, stories, and people that have all helped me find my voice along the way. Before you go, don’t forget to check out my blog at catwithachat.com for more reflections and updates from my Senior Inquiry project. Thanks again for joining us!