I haven’t been with The Appalachian very long. A little over two years ago I attended my first meeting, a general interest meeting. I was a nervous sophomore with no idea what I really wanted to do with my life. 

However, this is not a story where The Appalachian magically fixed all of that. I will say that at that meeting, I was struck with such awe and reverence for the staff of this paper — for their capabilities, their knowledge and their kindness — and with a profound feeling that I could never live up to that standard. That meeting was in the Spring of 2023, and I didn’t return to The Appalachian until the Fall of 2024.

I was going through a lot then, and that feeling of inadequacy had nothing to do with the paper itself. Now, I am graduating college, which I wasn’t sure I’d ever do, as Associate Multimedia Editor. 

That admiration for the paper, and especially the people who make it possible, has never once waned, and my respect for them grows every single day. I am so grateful to them for welcoming me with open arms and helping me achieve things I didn’t know were possible.

I regret that I didn’t get that extra year and a half to work alongside these fantastic reporters and even more lovely people, but I am so thankful for the time that I have gotten with them. 

I’ve grown so much and done so much, in too many ways to list here, and I truly owe that to the most important metric of my time here, the friends I’ve made (the real Appalachian was the friends we made along the way)!

So, thank you to everyone who made this year the best one yet. I’ll miss you all.