By Guest Columnist

Tyler Howard

When my family moved from Lima to Southern California in 1985, I had little idea that I would be returning to the area 23 years later to be a management trainee for the Delphos Herald. Of course, I was 5, so I was probably thinking mainly about when the next episode of “The Smurfs” was coming on but I’m sure there was a part of me that realized I was saying goodbye to one part of my life and hello to another. But life has a tendency to surprise you and bring things back to where they started. And in my case, that’s part of the story. Here’s the rest.
I grew up in a suburb outside Los Angeles with my parents, older brother and furry blonde dog named after Farrah Fawcett. My mother worked as an assistant to the television producer of many of the “T.G.I.F.” shows on ABC in the 1990s (“Perfect Strangers,” “Family Matters,” “Step By Step”) and that indirectly led to my youthful obsession with the entertainment industry and my decision to label myself a writer at the age of 15.
I went off to college at the University of California at Santa Barbara (not a bad place to experience the joys of college life, by the way),  where I double-majored in English and film studies with the assumption that I would become a screenwriter. I graduated, wrote a screenplay, acquired representation at a literary agency, sat back and waited for the million-dollar check and the invitation to the Academy Awards. Two things that, five years later, I’m still waiting for.
Growing up a few miles from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, I developed a strong fondness for the film and television business. But as I grew older, I realized that there was something missing — social relevance and impact on real people’s lives. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a deep admiration for the entertainment industry and I enjoy reading about Britney’s downward spiral as much as the next person. But when it came to making career decisions that would affect the rest of my life, I knew that journalism had my heart, not Hollywood.
So, after a couple years of working valuable but unfulfilling jobs, I decided it was time to pursue my passion for journalism. By this point, my parents had returned to Ohio to be near the rest of our family, so I stayed with them in Cincinnati where I applied to graduate schools and began the still unfinished process of adjusting to the weather.
I got into the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and received my master’s degree this past fall. As I embarked on the job search, I grew frustrated because I could not find a position that felt like a perfect fit. That was, of course, until I learned of the Management Trainee opportunity at The Delphos Herald.
There’s an old adage that goes: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” Well, I’ve provided God with a few chuckles over the years. But in coming full circle, my path has become clear. I’ve landed a great position in a wonderful town at an impressive company with amazing employees (Hey, I’m new on the job; forgive me for trying to score a few brownie points). And although I never expected the rebirth of my career to take place a few miles down the road from the place of my actual birth, now that I’m here,
I wouldn’t have written it any other way.