Well, we have reached the end of the road. This is my last article for The Colonnade. 

This is a bittersweet moment for me. Of course, I am excited to graduate and start the next chapter of my life, but I am going to miss working on this newspaper. It has taught me so much about writing, editing and AP style, and it has given me so much.

I would have never thought I would end up being part of an on-campus newspaper, let alone it be a cornerstone of my college experience. I came to GC as a computer science major. After — quickly — realizing it was not for me, I changed my major to mass communication.

I do not know why, exactly. I hated my English classes in high school, and I did not enjoy writing. But, for some reason, it felt right. This was in the middle of the pandemic. I am a huge cinephile; movie-related articles and podcasts were a big part of quarantine and lockdown for me, so I decided I wanted to be a culture writer. And although I no longer think that is what I want to do for the rest of my life, it made me see myself as a writer — a wannabe writer.

I came onto the paper through my first practicum, in fall 2022. I was a staff writer. I wrote one article per week, all of which were for Arts & Life. At the time, former editor-in-chief Jen Crider was the head A&L editor. She and I became friends. That December, Katie Futch, the editor-in-chief at the time, asked me if I wanted to be the paper’s managing editor. Of course, I said, “Yes.” A year and a half later, here we are.

At the time, my friend group was falling apart, and those people — Jen, Katie, Hayden Flinn, the head Sports editor at the time — took me under their wing and became the center of my social life. Jen put me on a friend date with her boyfriend and my now-best friend, Gray Miller. She is still one of my best friends.

And those people helped me grow as a writer and editor and learn the ins and outs of AP style, when to use the Oxford comma; yes, in AP style, there are cases where you need it.

I am currently working as an intern at the Office of University Communications, an opportunity I do not think I would have had without my time here.

None of that would have happened if I did not change my major to mass comm on a whim.

And while I do not know what the future looks like for me, whether I will work as a writer or editor, whether I will work in the communications industry, period, I could not have asked for a better experience than the one I had here.

To all of our current writers, to my fellow editors, past and current, and to our readers, whether you read every single issue or have read one of our articles: thank you.