The basic rules of journalism? Show, don’t tell. Use the least number of words possible. Never stop asking questions. 

In my first week as a first year, I saw an email from the Collegian about an interest meeting for copy editors. I went, which resulted in my copy editing every article published in the Collegian for the next two years. During my junior fall, I started to crave novelty, so I went out of my comfort zone and started writing. I didn’t stop, and came back as news editor my senior fall. Working for the news section pushed me in ways that copy editing hadn’t. I had to reach out to people for interviews, which meant learning how to write good questions.

I still haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that I won’t be going to the Peirce tower on Wednesday for news production, or our Monday budget meetings in the computer lab. The fact that I didn’t need to email anyone for interviews for this article is making it feel incomplete. 

Volume 154, you’re going to do great. Keep breaking news and checking in with the style guide. Keep pushing for the pithy lede. 

In my final weeks at Kenyon, I look back on my time at the Collegian with such love. With the cumulative thousands of hours I have spent at and on the Collegian, this newspaper has been a critical part of my Kenyon experience. No class has improved my writing skills, shaped my language and forced me to grow in the way the Collegian has. You’ll learn things about yourself and have your writing develop in unforeseen ways; I went from being a copy editor to writing weekly. The Collegian has taught me that having an editor is crucial, and having a copy editor just as much.

Thank you for reading the Collegian. Working for this newspaper has been the honor of a lifetime. 

If you ever feel like it, you should write for the Collegian. It just might change your life.