This is the column where I take a moment to reflect and say, “Thank you.”

After April 1 came and went, I quickly realized that my time at SUNY Oswego is coming to a close.

During my first column of the year, I wrote that if someone had told me in August 2017 that I was going to be Editor-in-Chief during this thing called “COVID-19,” I would have laughed and not believed it. 

My time as Editor-in-Chief, and subsequently my senior year at SUNY Oswego, has flown by. Even during my first semester while taking Astronomy 100 (we will not talk about the grade I received in said class), I never imagined how fast May 2021 would come.

I suppose that old saying of, “Time flies when you’re having fun” reigns true. 

It is nearly impossible to pinpoint one specific time to say, “Yeah, that’s my favorite memory at The Oswegonian.” Whether it be getting Wonzones with Ryan Zalduondo after hockey games during my freshman year, or going to Mackin Dining Complex with several staff members during my sophomore year while getting the newspaper ready for publication, I created life-long friendships within the newsroom at 139A Marano Campus Center.

From my very first article with The Oswegonian on Sept. 8, 2017, an Oswego State golf season preview after the team joined the Empire 8 conference, to what will ultimately be my last column in the April 23 issue, there has undoubtedly been growth in my writing.

Not only can I thank different journalism classes and professors for instilling that growth in classes, but also previous editors and staff members who took the time to sit down with me and discuss my stories with the corrections that were made.

In hindsight, when I was trying to make the big decision of where I would go to college during my senior year of high school, SUNY Oswego was a no-brainer. What other school could I have stepped onto campus, gotten involved in the student media organizations within the first week and basically been given every opportunity if I chose to take it?

Over the last four years, I have gotten to expand on my passion for sports journalism, something that I have wanted to do since the beginning of high school. But now, thanks to The Oswegonian, I  learned so much more about the field of journalism. It is sometimes so much more than just words and statistics on a page. It is about telling someone’s story and giving them a voice, something I strive to do each and every day that I write a feature story on a group or person. 

So, as cliché as it sounds, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. SUNY Oswego has made me a better person, let alone a better journalist. 

Thank you to all four years of staff members at The Oswegonian for working hard every single day, especially this year’s staff who had to deal with me being in charge as well as adapting to such a strange system with COVID-19. I cannot wait to see what The Oswegonian will look like long after I graduate; knowing who is in charge for the next few years, I am excited for the end result.

Thank you to every professor that I have had in the last four years for not just sticking to the textbook, but being humans; you all care so much more than just the grade on the exam, you care about students as people. 

Thank you to every single coach and student-athlete that I have come across that has been willing to sit down with me and talk, even after some tough losses, about different stories. Special shoutout to the men’s hockey team for some of my favorite memories over the last two seasons. I will never ask to ride the bus again.

A special thank you to Matt Watling, this year’s managing editor, who has been a close friend for the last four years. We pushed each other to be better every day, whether that was when we were running the sports section together or we were running the entire organization this year. I cannot wait to see what is in store for both of us after May.