As I reflect on my time working for The Campus, two words come to mind: change and growth.
When I joined the paper during my freshman year, we were still struggling with the effects of Covid-19, the barely beating heart of the paper was kept from flatlining by our former Editor-in-Chief Blake Uhlig, who regularly reached his cut-off of twenty hours of work by Wednesday.
This trend of just surviving continued to plague us into the next year, with a revolving door of staff members and missing all but one of our print deadlines.
That year saw a change in Editor-in-Chief as well, with my good friend Natalie Turner taking up the title, while I slotted into the Arts Editor position.
The Arts section became my passion project, even without much experience within the Arts themselves, and helped prepare me for the difficult role of Editor-in-Chief.
The year also saw the acquisition of the now second-most tenured staff members, as we picked up the hard-working and dependable Mariah Hunt and Jamison Ko.
The summer was no exception to the unexpected, as our former advisor Philip Todd took a teaching position at the University of Southern Indiana, leaving quite a hole to fill.
Despite our lack of an advisor, our three-person team pushed on, eventually gaining a new advisor and several more staff members.
Throughout my countless hours spent holed up in the corner of the Petree College of Arts and Sciences that houses the newsroom, I’ve grown tremendously.
From learning InDesign completely from scratch to helping writers figure out stories, my experience with The Campus has forced many sleepless nights, missed classes and missed practices, but my heart will also have a piece of our little monthly issues held inside of it.
I am beyond proud of what this team has become and what they have accomplished throughout this year, and you should be too.
From constant change and chaos has emerged a group of individuals who continue to improve and push the letter of expectations.
This year has seen a team that has brought student attention back to the paper, caused some unsavory conversations on campus, but most of all a team that perseveres despite any obstacles placed in front of it.
As I hand the torch off to the more than capable hands of Jamison Ko, I can’t help but use what very well may be my last chance on this platform to sing the praises of the 2023-24 The Campus staff.
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