Editor's note: As our wonderful community continues to grow and flourish, I find myself more and more in need of support to help keep up with the daily challenges of running CatholicMom.com and meeting our readers' needs. So today, I'm thrilled to share with you that we have recently welcomed a new college intern to our ranks! Emily McMahon will introduce herself below in her first post. She'll be a assisting us throughout the school year with a variety of tasks as she learns more about her college major, Communication Arts. Judging from my interactions with Emily to date, I'm certain that she has much to teach us as well! Please join me in giving Emily a warm CatholicMom.com welcome! LMH

Emily McMahon Emily McMahon

Hello, everyone!

My name is Emily McMahon, and I am so happy to introduce myself as the new intern here at CatholicMom.com!

First, a little about myself. I'm a Communication Arts major just beginning my sophomore year of college. I love animals, music, writing, digital art, and the outdoors, and I am very passionate about Jesus and my Catholic faith. I come from an amazing family. My parents are both very strong in their faith and are dedicated to teaching my two younger sisters and I about it. My father, an employee at an electrical company in the northeast, is going to be ordained to the permanent diaconate in the middle of October, 2013. We are all so proud of him! My mother is currently the wonderful educator of my younger sisters. All three of us are either students or alumni of a rigorous Catholic online homeschooling program based out of Virginia. My sisters, aged ten and fourteen, and I are very close and I love them dearly.

I graduated from high school in 2012 and spent a year taking courses at a local community college before beginning my sophomore year at a Catholic college in the midwest this fall. Midterms are approaching, and it is hard to believe how fast this semester is flying by already. Adjustment was, I admit, very difficult for me the first few weeks. Going from a close-knit environment at home, to a very small community college, to a larger university definitely has its challenges. However, the stark difference between the secular community college atmosphere I came from and the thoroughly Catholic atmosphere that permeates the college I am currently at is refreshing and amazing. I have grown so much in my faith in the few short weeks I've been here, and have already fallen in love with this school. I know that, as the semester marches along, I will continue to face many more challenges that are unique to college life, but I'm looking forward to growing in maturity and faith through these challenges in ways I never would have if I had not transferred to this school.

As a Communication Arts major, I love writing, digital art, and technology. These interests, combined with my love for my faith, made me very interested in this internship opportunity when it was brought to my attention by my academic advisor. I look forward to contributing to the mission of CatholicMom.com in any way I can, and I hope to learn much about the inner workings of online media and the ways it can be used to evangelize and spread the faith. I'm so excited to begin this internship!

God's Blessings to All!

In Christ,

Emily McMahon

JMJ

Copyright 2013 Emily McMahon