Sitting at her computer, at the time, junior Margarita Rangel decided to scroll through her emails as a solution to her boredom. Other than spam messages and school emails, she found herself wondering if she should open an email sent by Conroe ISD communication specialist Andrew Stewart that read, “Congratulations.”

Rangel — now the website editor-in-chief for Student Media — was one of the students that received the CISD sport photography internship for the 2023-2024 school year after applying last May.

“When I received the email I got suspicious at first thinking it was a scam,” Rangel said. “ When I opened it, it said ‘Congratulations on being the 2023-2024 student intern’ but I thought it was a spam message and I didn’t want to misinterpret it and get excited so I decided to ignore it.”

Rangel was encouraged to apply by her Student Media adviser, Stephen Green, after a former student, Emily Maldonado, was the previous year intern for that 2022-2023 year.

“Green made all of the photographers apply, but Emily pushed me to do it,” Rangel said. “She sat right next to me and helped me with the process and Green helped me make a strong portfolio. I didn’t even think I was going to get it. I’m not going to lie, I was hoping to not get it because I didn’t want to be seen.”

Growing up, Rangel struggled with having control of herself, her dad was an influence in what she could or couldn’t do. So, when he left winter 2020, she found herself feeling free after 14 years.

“When I was a kid I couldn’t do much in my life because I was a girl and my dad had the mindset that girls weren’t supposed to be in control of anything. He controlled what I wore, what I could and couldn’t do,” Rangel said. “Things were bad, not because he left but because when you have that much negative energy in your life and it just leaves, you’re just standing there, not knowing what to do, that’s how it feels. It left me wondering what I could do, I realized there wasn’t someone to hold me back anymore.”

Starting her freshman year after Covid and a new found freedom, Rangel had no idea on what to do, she explored her class opinions during Freshman Orientation and opted to a Journalism 1 class after finding out she could join Student Media after that first year.

“I would watch a lot of movies when I was a kid and a lot of them were high school based movies so when there would be parts where they would mention a yearbook staff I wanted to be that,” Rangel said. “So after finding out that was an option in high school, counselor  advised me to take journalism to join the yearbook staff.”

After that first year in journalism and having experienced reporting, design and photography, Rangel loved the idea of photography and what it meant to her.

“At first, I chose photography because it was the most decent, reporting was okay, I didn’t really grasp the concept and designing didn’t really catch my eye,” Rangel said. “Holding the camera was really cool, it’s so beautiful and learning how it works was so nice.”

For the following three years Rangel continued her path in photography where she learned to love it and heal from her past.

“When I held a camera it made me know I was in control and gave me a good awareness of myself and it gave me the freedom to control what would be on the picture,” Rangel said. “ It gave me a sense of well-being, It told me I was going to be OK and if it doesn’t work that’s okay, because that camera just assured me that I had control in whatever I did.”

When Rangel first started to submit photos for the internship, she realized that there wasn’t a huge difference between what she was already doing.

“I mostly take pictures for Student Media, but while I’m there I’m supposed to be taking pictures that could potentially go to the internship,” Rangel said. “My photos go on the official Instagram and that it’s mostly for entertainment rather than capturing a story.”

Being a part of the internship benefits Rangel by giving exposure and growing her portfolio she could potentially use in the future while still doing something she enjoys.

“The internship helps spread our name, and if we end up wanting to be a part of Conroe ISD to continue our internship as an actual job, then we’d have a foot in that type of thing,” Rangel said. “I like capturing people’s memories for them because it captures moments, photography is just something that helps me.”

Rangel has struggled with handling the stress of her multiple leadership roles such as website editor-in-chief and shift supervisor/backstock manager for her job. She would push herself to the point where she was burned out but she wanted to continue with it. She wanted to be able to feel the freedom she felt was robbed in her life.

“At first I was getting really burnt out. I was shooting on a regular basis and when I came back I had to make sure things were done for the web,” Rangel said. “When it was Thanksgiving break I finally had time to lay off and I made myself a schedule so I could manage everything. It made me drained but I really like the stress, it makes me feel like I’m doing something that matters.”

The love for photography is what encourages Rangel to continue and push herself to be better and to continue working hard regardless of the situations she’s been in.

“I knew I had to really invest every ounce of passion I have into this, if not I felt like I would take advantage of this amazing opportunity that was given to me,” Rangel said. “The camera gives me assurance that if I click the button and I fail at that one I could get another one, I could get a chance again. There’s always a chance for me.”