Who is The Vogts?

Like many of my fellow May 2008 Wichita (Kan.) State University journalism graduates, I worried about finding a job because so many large newspapers are experiencing shrinking profits that jobs are becoming harder to find.

I am one of the lucky ones. I have found a job, and it is as editor of The Ledger weekly newspaper in Moundridge, Kan.

My name is Todd Vogts, and I hail from Canton, Kan. I graduated from Canton-Galva High School in May 2004.

When asked why I got into journalism, I always have to explain that it probably started because of smoking.

I helped deliver a weekly advertising publication when I was younger, and one night my friend and I finished with extra copies. We couldn’t return them, so we decided to burn them in our trash barrels.

As we did so, I pretended to smoke one like a cigar, and I accidentally inhaled.

In my naivety, I panicked that I would become addicted to smoking.

Obviously that is not how the habit works, but I like to tell people I am addicted to journalism because of that night.

Really, though, my journalism career started the summer before my senior year of high school.

I attend the American Legion Boys State of Kansas, and there I was elected editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper that serves the week-long program.

Why did I receive the job with no prior experience? I think I got the position because journalism is what I am supposed to do.

Since my high school did not have anything journalism related other than yearbook, I got my first taste of reporting my freshman year at Hutchinson Community College.

I immediately was named sports editor of the weekly student newspaper. Again, no experience, but I quickly realized I loved journalism.

My instructor and adviser, Alan Montgomery, was instrumental in this. He showed me what journalism was all about. He even helped another student and I cover the round-the-world flight of Steve Fossett in 2005, in which case we were closer to the man than national media.

Of course, that was just the beginning.

Since then I have been the editor-in-chief of two student newspapers; the webmaster of two student newspapers; a weekly columnist for The McPherson (Kan.) Sentinel; an intern at the Greteman Group, a Wichita-based public relations firm; and an intern at The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle. Plus I have been an on-air personality and audio technician at a radio station in Hutchinson, Kan.

However, the job I am most proud of is the job of running my own business, Lucky Se7en Mobile DJ Services, which I started when I was 18 years old.

Without some of these jobs, I wouldn’t have figured out how perfect journalism is for me, and I definitely wouldn’t have learned what I want to do in the field.

I am fascinated with technology and its relationship with journalism. I would love nothing more than to perfect my Web site-designing skills and become a Web journalist who can literally do it all in the way of disseminating news via the Internet.

I am a life-long learner, and I never want to stop pursuing my goal of being one of the best Web journalists.

I will never stop striving for greatness of which my heroes Rob Curley and Bob Woodward could both be proud.