Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series, Meet The Denver Gazette Newsroom, better familiaring readers with the people who bring them the news. At a time of distrust in the media, The Denver Gazette wants to introduce ourselves and get to know you better.

I did not set out to be a journalist.

But I had two pivotal experiences — first in college and then early in my journalism career — that would change my trajectory.

While writing about immigration in West Texas, I stumbled on a family seeking a 21-gun salute for their father, who came home decorated after serving three tours in Vietnam. Former President Bill Clinton’s military drawdowns at the time meant this honor was less frequently bestowed.

I wrote the story and didn’t give it another thought.

Then I got a phone call from a group of Fort Concho re-enactors who read my story and wanted to give the family a 21-gun-salute.

Standing in the dew of the morning with the gun smoke still hanging over the cemetery, I asked the veteran’s widow what the gesture meant to her. A proud and stout Mexican woman, she got a big, crocodile tear in her eye, choked out a “Thank you,” hugged me and cried.

I was hooked seeing first-hand the power of storytelling and I haven’t looked back.

An editor once told me — when I was still a cub reporter — that journalism has the power to bring light and heat. In other words, we have the power to shine a light on an issue. We don’t have the power to make change. That power lies with the readers our stories inform, who can bring pressure to bear on lawmakers and community leaders.

Sometimes bringing light means getting a 21-gun-salute for a family.

Sometimes, it means finding an email from Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero requesting a secret board meeting to deliberate on returning cops to campus, which was used in a lawsuit The Denver Gazette and other news outlets filed challenging an executive session discussing the policy change, in defiance of state law.

And sometimes, it means calculating the costs and benefits of illegal immigration amid an unprecedented surge and a humanitarian crisis Denver has never before seen.

This is the critical job journalism does. It’s what we’ve signed up to do every day.