Melody Gutierrez is a Chico State alumna who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. She’s now an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, before working there she covered other beats for the San Francisco Chronicle and The Sacramento Bee.

“The Orion gave me real-life experience to get a job right after college. It’s hands-on and pretty much allowed me to feel confident going into the workplace,” Gutierrez said.

Walking through The Orion newsroom reminded her of fun times spent in the same building where current students write and edit stories for the student-run newspaper. She talked about her experiences and reflected on her formative years at Chico State.

“My favorite memories at Chico State were at The Orion. A lot of my closest friends today are people who I worked at The Orion with, those were long hours, but the friendships were forged over that paper and still continue today,” Gutierrez said

She pointed at the spot where she used to sit and edit articles as the editor-in-chief and noticed some changes in the newsroom.

Her eyes lit up with nostalgia as she recounted some awards she picked up for the newspaper “That one, I picked up this one,” Gutierrez said as she was pointing at a 2002-2003 National Newspaper Pacemaker award.

Mawil Soluna can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].