It feels a little surreal to be writing my last article for The Simpsonian. As I type out these words and work on wrapping up my final feature article, I can’t help but remember what got me involved with student media in the first place.

I didn’t want to be a journalist, at least not at first. I took one journalism class in high school, and I hated it. I thought it was too much work and boring. I didn’t want to touch journalism despite always loving writing. 

This will sound a bit like a broken record for anyone who knows me, so feel free to skip this next part. Spoiler alert: I ended up loving journalism, and I wouldn’t have loved it if not for Simpson College. 

During my first year, I took Media History freshman year, and Professor Brian Steffen told me to consider journalism. I say maybe. I start working for the college’s marketing department, writing articles the next semester; I don’t end up hating it. 

In the fall, I join The Simpsonian so I can go to Washington, DC, for only $100. I end up liking the class. I stay in it. The then Editor-in-Chief Gunnar Davis tells me I could be an editor; I’m insanely competitive (internally), so I eat this up. 

I continue. I become the News Editor and now the Editor-in-Chief. Where does this leave me? Attending Northwestern Medill to earn my MSJ through their accelerated Investigative Program. 

So I guess you can say I ended up liking journalism. 

Throughout these past two years, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve made many people happy, and I’ve ticked a number of people off. I’ve gotten an internship that I loved at the Times Citizen. 

I also, oddly enough, learned about web design. I spent all of last summer obsessively working on The Simpsonian’s website, which we won third place at the ICMAs for (and which I’m claiming as it is my first win at the ICMAs).

It wasn’t always fun. There were times when I cried; there were times when I got stressed out to the point of tears, and there were times that I screamed in my car or ranted to my mom and friends for hours. Despite the stress, I had fun, and I would do it again. 8/10, points reduced for the anxiety. 

The biggest thing that I learned was that I do love writing and writing journalistically. I love telling stories. I love meeting new people, writing about their experiences and lifting their voices. 

And some of my best friends have come out of this year’s group. 

But, all great work aside, in the words of our advisor Mark Siebert, no one cares what you did/won yesterday. 

Maybe I sucked as this year’s editor, or maybe you loved me and enjoyed seeing my work and the direction I took the paper in. Either way, I did it, and this is it, my final article.

So thank you to those that have read my work these past four years — from my stint in the marketing department to the Times Citizen, The Simpsonian and soon-to-be Medill. 

Thank you to my friends, my family, my advisors and you for reading this. 

Cheers to the class of 2022.