By John Custodio
After four-ish years and seven full semesters at SUNY Oswego, I am finally out of here. I would be remiss if I did not harp on joining The Oswegonian one final time, or ramble for another 300 to 500 words with no concise message. The journalism program at SUNY Oswego, and more importantly The Oswegonian, truly gave me a second chance and redirected my life’s path.
After my freshman year, my G.P.A. was a 1.84, and I was in the zoology bachelor’s of science program. Of course, SUNY Oswego told me to get out and I obliged after my appeal was rejected. Going to community college for the semester did send me into a mild spiral, and coming back into SUNY Oswego after that semester away, for the spring 2020 semester, was a lot. However, that February or March was the first time I was published in the paper, a god-awful review of “The Witcher” season one for Laker Review. I changed my major to biology, bachelor of arts, and my minor to journalism.
My G.P.A. was still garbage, but I was moving. Over the fall of 2020 I was published a few more times in Laker Review, never journeying into news or opinion and never even reading sports. In the spring, I wrote one opinion article, applied for assistant Laker Review editor and was kindly, but forcefully, suggested that I apply for opinion editor to take over from the wonderful Abigail Connolly who was moving to managing editor.
I was legitimately worried walking into the interview with Connolly and editor-in-chief elect Brandon Ladd, having a poor G.P.A. and a gap in my semesters. Of course, I was the only applicant so it was a near-given, but I was stressed.
Taking that job was the best decision I have made at SUNY Oswego, and perhaps ever made. It has introduced me to so many incredible people and coworkers and sharpened my writing skills, although the copy editors may disagree with that one. From writing my first news story in the fall of 2021 to living in the office in the spring of 2022, the paper has fundamentally changed me as a person. It has forced me to become better and better every week and has taken me to levels of stress I never thought I would hit, but made me realize it was survivable.
I will always remember the coworkers and other media organization folks, working hard throughout the day and night or just hanging out in the office, Spencer Bates teaching me how to throw a football in an office crowded with expensive computers, signing a beautiful Laker Review cover for Meg Trubia or voting for Ben Diamond as editor-in-chief just to stress Annika Wickham out, to name a few memories. I would fill the entire opinion section if I named everyone.
At the end of the day, I have to truly thank Ladd and the paper for giving me a second chance. I have no idea where I would be without The Oswegonian.
Image from John Custodio
