I’ve dressed up in a hot dog costume, peddled papers to students in the union, worked on a papier-mâché dragon about as tall as I am, presented at a national conference and laughed until I cried from exhaustion and joy.

The past four years have been the best years of my life, but not in the way I imagined when I moved in freshman year. Most of the stories I will tell when I’m older will take place in a windowless room, with grey walls and little reminders of the times we spent working on the paper.

The Appalachian provided me with teachers: Michael Bragg, Chelsea Fisher and Gerrit van Genderen to name a few. I’ve met some amazing friends and colleagues: Malik Rahili, Andrew Clausen, Justin Perry, Charlotte Wray, Laney Rukstuhl, Samantha Cordialini, Paul Heckert and many more. And, of course, I found a mentor, confidante, cheerleader and motivator in our advisor, Allison Dyche. All of these wonderful people have helped me become the writer, journalist and possibly even person I am today.

The Appalachian also brought me my husband-to-be, Rob Lee, who I met when I interviewed him for a news article my freshman year (thank you again, Michael). The Appalachian appeared again in our love story when Malik helped Rob plan my engagement (a fake interview with Chancellor Peacock) and Carson Fletcher videotaped it for us. And, Rob earned a lifetime of gratitude for loving me through some of the most stressful nights at the paper, and being proud of me when that hard work paid off.

I want to be clear though, I have had many beautiful memories outside of the newsroom: spending a summer in France studying journalism during a world cup and the solar decathlon, spending the last beautiful day of fall and first of spring on the porch of a trailer bar, spending snow days with the beautiful souls I call roommates, and of course, being in a sorority.

I also spent about a year and a half interning with some very talented professionals at University Communication. The skill and professional development I gained there are due in a huge part to my supervisor Linda Coutant who taught me so much more than how to write a press release or tell a story.

From all my beautiful, wonderful memories, I want to give you some advice – take advantage of all that college has to offer. There is a treasure trove of people who work at and attend this university and you will be doing a disservice to yourself if you don’t participate in a sliver of that. Go to the first meeting of every club you are interested in. Get to know your professors. Take a gamble and apply for the job or internship you aren’t confident enough to know you will get. Plan your time so you can go to taco Wednesday with your friends. In my experience, you need to shake all the opportunity and experience you can from this place, as much as you can handle.

Finally, a thank you to my dad, Keith Sansoucy, for always working so hard to make sure I could say yes to opportunity, and my mom, Kathleen Sansoucy, for supporting me when I may have said ‘yes’ too many times, and for always telling me ‘you’re going to college.’ We did it.