Good morning, afternoon, and night, Central Valley. I am Caleb Jebb Fox, the newest writer taken aboard the Oakdale Leader, and I am ready to share my experiences and stories with all of you.

I am an English and behavioral science major with a minor in law and politics at Concordia University Irvine (CUI). Still, before that, my roots come back to Oakdale High School.

Through my four years of education and athletics at Oakdale High, I explored multiple Advanced Placement classes and various sports. I feel that I was a valuable asset on the water polo, swim, soccer, and volleyball teams throughout my time and enjoyed every moment with my teammates. The helpful leadership and advice from my coaches and teachers at Oakdale High School allowed me to carry those experiences into my college career at CUI, and set high goals, and reach even higher.

Currently, I am a sophomore at CUI and a devout member of the speech and debate team, in which I discuss politics, philosophical, and theological issues among other like-minded college students and perform literature and self-written speeches to hundreds of students and judges. The speech and debate team allows me to travel nationwide to compete for days at national-level tournaments in states such as Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia. My travel itinerary does not stop there; this upcoming semester at CUI, I have the unique opportunity to attend a Cambridge house in the United Kingdom and study Shakespeare and other branches of literature in an entirely new environment.

While studying abroad and competing in speech and debate, I also decided to take up an Academic Showcase where – alongside a professor – I explore a research topic and write a professional paper about the topic selected. This year, my chosen topic is the influence and effects of French philosophy on modern American writers.

All of this brings me to where I am today; a professional writer, I suppose. I have always dreamed of writing for a newspaper because it seemed right up my alley; I was too obsessed with reading and writing to stay at any other job for too long. I hope to be able to mold this opportunity at the Oakdale Leader and allow it to carry into my college time in hopes that I can write for my school newspaper. At the end of the day, though, the only real idea I wish to derive from this is understanding what it means to be a writer and its ups and downs.

I have been a self-proclaimed writer for over a decade, and I can finally show some proof that is not a summer-churned Jane Eyre essay. While I have a soft spot for Charlotte Brontë, her words cannot exactly describe what I want to say. I confidently believe that the Oakdale Leader will allow me to fill in those words for myself and, most importantly, share them with a part of the world.

Caleb Fox will be writing for The Oakdale Leader this summer, covering a variety of assignments. He may be reached at jebbfox@gmail.com