HUDSON, Wis. — University of St. Thomas senior Adam Mueller had such well-intentioned reporting plans, but there he sat on the eastbound side of the Interstate 94 St. Croix River bridge on a frigid early Saturday morning in mid-December, facing a deflating roadblock — a flat tire.

In an already busy semester, Mueller had carved out time for a trip to Wausau, Wisconsin, to do a story for The Crest about the Emerging Media Department’s Coordinator, Oyuna Uranchimeg, and her training for curling in the upcoming 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

But circumstances would not prevail that morning.

His second text to advisers read, “Could you pass along Oyuna’s phone number so I can send her a message about my time of arrival?”

Ever focused on the story, Mueller never complained.

When this adviser texted, “Are you still warm?” he responded, “Still warm.”

Nearly four months later in mid-April, Mueller sat in the InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront Hotel’s Minnesota Ballroom, which was warmer than December on the interstate, at the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association’s annual awards contest, collecting multiple plaques for his work.

“It was like kind of a pat on the back to say, I’m going to be OK,” Mueller recalled in a late April interview.

The story about Uranchimeg was recognized twice, as he took home four Eric Sevareid Awards — three first-place honors, including Multi-Media Journalist/Solo Storyteller, and one award of merit.

“Being recognized by people who know what they’re doing and know what they’re talking about feels really nice. Obviously, we don’t do it for that,” Mueller said.

The recognition was the culmination of a four-year journey through the Emerging Media Department’s Journalism Program and student-run media, which was TommieMedia when Mueller arrived and then transitioned to The Crest in his second year.

The St. Thomas educational experience exceeded Mueller’s incoming expectations.

“I was able to do a little bit of everything and find what specifically I wanted to do, and then I kind of was able to do anything I wanted to do eventually — once I had the tools for it,” Mueller said.

In four years with student media, Mueller spent three semesters as a reporter, three more as the sports editor, and the last two as managing editor, a role that initially made him nervous.

“Now I’m glad that I did it because I think I had no choice but to get better at it and to help people,” Mueller said. “And I think that forced my hand into becoming a better editor and having better news judgment for sure.”

Mueller aggressively covered a wide range of stories in his four years.

His most memorable stories include the following: covering election night 2024 when he reported from Minnesota’s Republican Party headquarters; working for the Under-Told Stories Project, which included a trip to India; and most recently, reporting on the anti-ICE protests in late January in downtown Minneapolis.

Mueller and two staff members, who were technically still on J-term break, chose to cover the protest, braving subzero wind-chill temperatures.

“I had talked about it with the two of them, and … we all three of us decided this is something that we should do,” Mueller recalled.

As graduation approached, in late April, Mueller found himself reflecting on the student-media experience with The Crest’s Executive Director Abby Madsen.

He recalled telling Madsen, “It kind of feels like we were on a sports team for four years just because we were teammates who had to put up with long hours and late nights, once in a while; and we got to celebrate things, and we also had to roll with the punches a little bit.”

Mueller’s journalism journey will continue immediately after graduation from St. Thomas. He begins a reporting job June 1 at WSAW-TV in Wausau, Wisconsin, where he interned the two previous summers.

“A lot of people have gone on to impressive things after that, and so it’s a good training ground,” Mueller said.

Wausau, you will recall, is also where Mueller was headed that cold December morning when his car blew a tire.

He never lost sight of the story that day, and his professional intentions are to never lose sight of great storytelling as his career unfolds.

“I just want to get better. I’m going to have to kind of kick myself over and over to make sure I’m not, you know, falling back on. I want to keep making progress,” Mueller said.