Brock Blasdell’s journey in journalism began while living abroad in Central America in 2012. During an education stint in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Blasdell wrote his first published article about living abroad in a community of American ex-patriots. Just 16 at the time, he had no way of knowing how deeply involved writing would become in his life.
After moving back to his home state of Arizona at the age of 17, he graduated with honors from Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona. Facing an unknown future, Blasdell spent a few years working and travelling. At 23, he enrolled into Mesa Community College as a journalism major.
“I made a bargain with myself. I told myself I was crazy enough to chase a dream. I wanted to write. So I did everything I could to make it happen. I quit my job. I quit hanging out with people who brought me down. I quit wasting time,” Blasdell said.
After being noticed by the college’s newspaper staff for an article he wrote in an introductory news writing course, he accepted a position as Opinions Editor for the on-campus MesaCC Legend Newspaper in 2018.
“I felt completely out of my element, but I knew I had dug out some type of golden opportunity. I dumped everything I could into journalism. I wrote three to five stories a week for much of those early semesters,” Blasdell said. “All of a sudden, people started calling me a writer.”
In 2019 Blasdell accepted an internship in the MCC Office of Institutional Advancement. It was there he would gain experience in website management, social media engagement, graphic design and public relations.
“The mentorship, help and encouragement of everybody in the office, convinced me that I was not only capable, but sought after as a writer. They made me feel like they were lucky to have me,” Blasdell said.
Blasdell believes he cultivated a unique understanding of the flow of information at MCC by working simultaneously as a student, a reporter and a public relations intern. He feels that this understanding, combined with his now hefty publication portfolio, cultivated into both his acceptance into a summer Journalism internship in Washington. D.C., and a local freelance reporting position with the Tempe Wrangler News.
“I know that I am stronger from my journey, and the things I learned at MCC provided me the power to move forward when I once would have stopped,” Blasdell said. “I know that on the shoulders of these great people, of the mentors and teachers that I have found here, I will be carried higher than ever before.”
Blasdell plans to pursue his education at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism after completing a summer internship with George Mason University. [Note: The internship was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.]