My dad has always had one particular saying that has stuck with me: “Expand your horizons.”

I heard it throughout my childhood whenever I considered trying something new—whether that meant joining a volleyball team despite never having played before or signing up for an art class I wasn't sure I could handle.

That phrase became more real the summer I turned 14. My dad handed me a card containing two plane tickets to New York City. In his handwriting, it asked a simple question: “Ready to expand your horizons?”

I remember standing in the kitchen, completely stunned. Looking back, it was one of the first moments I truly understood what it meant to step into the unknown.

Since then, those words have followed me everywhere. They appeared on sticky notes tucked into my suitcase before I moved 2,000 miles away for college. They were scribbled into notebooks while I traveled across Europe. Today, they're written on a notepad that sits on my dresser, reminding me daily to keep pushing beyond the familiar.

For my senior capstone project in the Communications: Journalism emphasis at BYU–Idaho, I wanted to create something that reflected that philosophy. Rather than choosing between my interests in writing, editing, design, photography, and multimedia storytelling, I decided to combine them by creating and designing my own magazine.

The result is Unmapped.

The title was inspired by the belief that some of life's most meaningful opportunities, achievements, and discoveries happen when we move beyond what is comfortable and familiar. Maps are useful, but they only show us where others have already been. Growth often begins where the map ends.

This magazine explores what it means to expand your horizons: to push beyond your limits, embrace uncertainty, and create a path forward without clear directions.

Throughout this project, I have had the opportunity to interview scientists, athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, community leaders, mothers, and innovators. While their backgrounds and experiences differ, they share one thing in common: each chose to move forward despite uncertainty. Their stories exist because they were willing to leave the safe and known behind and pursue something larger than themselves.

Writing these stories and learning about their journeys has filled me with the same sense of curiosity and excitement I felt watching my first Broadway show, stepping off a plane in a new country, or standing at the edge of an unfamiliar opportunity.

I hope the stories in these pages encourage you to embrace the unknown, challenge yourself to grow, and remain open to possibilities you may not yet see.

Unmapped is not a guidebook. It is not a roadmap. It does not offer all the answers.

Instead, it is an invitation to step forward without one.