{"id":16792,"date":"2026-05-04T11:30:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=16792"},"modified":"2026-07-14T19:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:38:35","slug":"turning-a-hobby-into-a-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/05\/04\/turning-a-hobby-into-a-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning a hobby into a\u00a0career\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Ella Weidenhammer \u201927, staff writer <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the department of design, media and technology\u00a0(DMT),\u00a0there are many different directions\u00a0students\u00a0may take.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autumn\u00a0Garges\u00a0started out a little bit different than\u00a0the department\u2019s\u00a0average\u00a0digital\u00a0media\u00a0student. She\u00a0began\u00a0as an\u00a0education\u00a0major and Spanish minor.\u00a0During her sophomore year, she decided to make the change\u00a0to\u00a0digital\u00a0media\u00a0while keeping her Spanish minor, which turned out to be part of her proudest\u00a0accomplishments\u00a0while attending\u00a0LVC.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChanging my major and excelling in a program that was new territory was one of them, as well as the team championships our women’s track and cross-country teams were able to win during my senior year,\u201d Garges said. \u201cContributing to those victories is such an amazing feeling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senior captain played\u00a0a major role\u00a0in the success of the cross-country team,\u00a0winning the program\u2019s first Middle Atlantic Conference Championship as well as being the anchor for\u00a0the women\u2019s\u00a04×800 meter team that brought home gold last spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was especially proud of one specific relay my junior year–we\u00a0were head-to-head with Messiah in a 4×800 meter\u00a0track relay,\u201d\u00a0Garges\u00a0said. \u201cI was the last teammate to get the baton side-by-side with Messiah, and I was able to hold off their runner and bring LVC the gold. That is a moment I will cherish forever. My sport has taught me so much about myself and my abilities. The mental aspect of running has shown me that my range of abilities is so much higher when I believe in myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a part of the cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field\u00a0teams,\u00a0Garges\u00a0has\u00a0gathered a bunch of\u00a0memories.\u00a0Every year,\u00a0Garges\u00a0and the cross-country team\u00a0took\u00a0a road trip to\u00a0Ohiopyle,\u00a0where the team\u00a0rented\u00a0a house to cook meals, do workouts, and play games with everyone. She is quick to say these trips\u00a0were\u00a0the\u00a0best.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoach\u00a0O\u2019Brien, my cross country and track coach, has had the biggest impact on my experience,\u201d\u00a0Garges\u00a0said. \u201cBefore I even arrived at LVC, he saw abilities in me that I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0even believe in myself. I will always appreciate the way he supported me and helped me progress in my sport in ways I never would have imagined.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garges helped to create content for the teams\u2019 social media accounts as well as to create content for her own personal accounts. She\u2019s even had the opportunity to collaborate with bigger brands.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have always loved taking photos and videos and using editing software to turn them into some form of storytelling,\u201d\u00a0Garges\u00a0said. \u201cWhen I realized I could turn that into a career, I experimented with many forms of content and turned that into a job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, Garges will intern at Turnstone Creative Marketing Agency in Bethlehem, while also continuing her freelance content creation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would tell my teammates not to wish away their time,\u201d she said. \u201cI can think back to days when I really did not want to be running in negative temperatures, or I was so nervous to race, and I just couldn’t wait to graduate, but the time truly flies by so fast. By the time it’s almost over, I’m wishing I could do it all over again.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ella Weidenhammer \u201927, staff writer  In the department of design, media and technology\u00a0(DMT),\u00a0there are many different directions\u00a0students\u00a0may take.\u00a0 Autumn\u00a0Garges\u00a0started out a little bit different than\u00a0the department\u2019s\u00a0average\u00a0digital\u00a0media\u00a0student. She\u00a0began\u00a0as an\u00a0education\u00a0major and Spanish minor.\u00a0During her sophomore year, she decided […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16835,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16792\/revisions\/16835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}