Anna Celia Gallegos

University of Houston

Anna Celia Gallegos is usually the youngest person in the room.

At 17, she entered her first year at the University of Houston with nearly 40 college credit hours, which allowed her to go straight to upper-level courses for her double major in print journalism and creative writing.

Gallegos was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and after graduating from her 200-student high school in May 2009, she decided she wanted to experience something new.

“There is this thing where if you miss your chance to go, you’ll die in El Paso,” said Gallegos, now 20. “You have to have a certain personality to live there. I wanted change, I wanted something different.”

Gallegos knew little about Houston and not a single person when she arrived. Her transition to the city wasn’t easy, but she said moving was one of her best decisions.

Gallegos also said her interest in journalism seemed natural, because the trade was instilled in her family. Her father listened to NPR and read the newspaper at home, and her older brother was the editor-in-chief of their high school’s newspaper, a position she later assumed.

When she started college, she became involved with El Gato Media Network, a student-run news organization covering the greater Houston area, and in her second semester she became the editor-in-chief.

“I went from El Paso to having to run a newsroom,” Gallegos said. “I was taking a big step at once.”

Gallegos has completed internships copy editing at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and reporting for the city desk at the Houston Chronicle.

“That’s one thing about journalism,” Gallegos said. “You have to keep working toward something bigger and better.”

- Audris Ponce