Unlike my fellow student media seniors who’ve written this before me, I came into Simpson knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I did independent journalism work during high school when mine lacked a student newspaper, and it was something I just knew I wanted to do.

 So, when I was looking at colleges, it was important to me that it was somewhere I could learn how to be a journalist rather than hoping I was doing it right like I’d done in high school.

I ended up narrowing it down to two schools: Simpson and Wartburg. Obviously, I ended up at Simpson. Which was the correct decision, if not just for the fact that Wartburg’s newspaper is effectively dead, but also because I’ve spent the last four years growing, learning, and connecting.

Big thanks to Brian Steffen, who was very nice to me when I was touring, because that was a big factor in my coming to Simpson, along with the small campus and proximity to my hometown. 

I was ready to go…and then COVID happened.

A bump in the road, to say the least. It was very unhelpful for first-year me, who literally had no idea what she was doing. I made a few friends, but when nothing was happening on campus, how the hell were you supposed to foster those friendships? You couldn’t even leave your dorm door open, which I’d heard had been an effective strategy in the past to meet people. 

But we managed, and we made it through.

My sophomore year was when I started participating in student media. I kind of floated through it, doing my best and learning along the way. Thanks to Amelia Schafer, who was a very encouraging and kind editor-in-chief to someone who had no clue what she was doing. 

That year was when I met many people who would go on to become my friends the year following when I became Caleb Geer’s news editor and started to figure “it” out. 

There’s a lot to remember from junior year. I wrote “One Year with Thunder,” which would go on to get me an award. I wrote “Velma is a lesbian,” certainly one of the most memorable in the eyes of Caleb and Kyle Werner. I covered the hiring of an entirely new football staff, and more. A squad of student media editors went to Washington D.C. together. I took photos at a concert for the first time and generally became closer to the team. Kyle and Caleb especially, as we were the only ones on the team not graduating in 2023 and would stay on for the following year.

Oh yeah, and I took over as editor-in-chief.

Which, in case you’ve never been one, is daunting as hell. It feels like a lot of pressure to basically be in charge of what students on campus are informed about. 

Luckily, I had a good support system around me. 

Mark Siebert, who’s my advisor and the advisor for student media, was encouraging to me the whole time, and I’m grateful for him believing I could do the job and letting me know when I did something good. Kyle, of course, as my managing editor, basically tag-teamed this entire academic year with me, splitting some of the responsibilities and taking some of the pressure off. He was always there when I had a question if I was doing something right or needed a second opinion. And Caleb, who, after stepping down, became the laid-back one of the group that was honestly needed sometimes.

The rest of the student media leadership team was amazing as well, always doing what I asked and making my job easier when I needed it. And when we needed to gossip a little, which might as well be a requirement of being a journalist.

And here we are, at the end of a journey. Student media has been handed off to new leaders, and we seniors are stepping down. On to new horizons. 

I’m going to miss a lot about Simpson and student media. All the friends and professors who have made the last four years a lot more bearable, I appreciate you and can’t thank you enough. This isn’t goodbye, but it is the last time I’ll be writing like this. 

To The Simpsonian and all its readers, so long, farewell.