During her senior year as a journalism student in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University, Allie Daugherty was an intern at Voice of San Diego. Through her undergraduate courses she discovered the Digital and Social Media Certificate classes at the College of Extended Studies and decided to take the photography classes to enhance her marketability as she pursues her journalism career.

For Daugherty, her favorite classes were the photography classes – Photography in the Digital Age I and II – where she learned how to tell a story through only photos. “I loved that the instructor, Sam Hodgson, made us go out into the world and take photos. It was like sink or swim, but he made sure we all succeeded. It gave me an excuse to throw myself head first into something I otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. For his first class, I was able to follow a drag queen for three days of performances, documenting her life through photos. I would come back to class, get my photos critiqued, and then take what I learned and go shoot more photos. It was a great way to learn.”