Holy cow, my first column as Editor-in-Chief. I do not know if I should be overjoyed or terrified, but there is no chance of going back now, and not just because no one else ran for the position.
I have been with the Gonian for my entire college career, from writing really awful opinion pieces freshman year to being hired as the singular copy editor as a sophomore, then as chief copy editor, a title I was proud to have until last week.
As the annual takeover week is underway, I, along with a few other staff members have passed my former position onto its new host. With the amount of times I have yelled at him about missing commas and grammatical errors, I know that Spencer Bates will take up third in command with stride.
Along with Spencer, I am really grateful to be starting my year in charge with a strong staff that is mostly staying the same from this semester. Though a lot of them will be leaving us in December, I know we will have a great fall semester.
Abi Conpropst is now officially my right-hand woman and between her, myself and Spencer, the office will be run by all journalism majors for the first time in my Gonian career. Not that we will do a better job than our predecessors, but I will be thankful to have leaders who know AP style. As previous copy editors themselves, I know the “Wonder Twins” will have my back when it comes to edits, especially because we do not have any copy editors at the moment.
Though I am looking forward to working with a lot of the same staff, I would be remiss without mentioning the five graduating seniors we are losing. Will Rogers and Kailee Montross have run the arts department like a well-oiled machine and despite a few missing photo captions, I think we were able to give their photos and graphics justice.
John Custodio stole my desk but for other reasons the office will not be the same without him. I will certainly miss the out of pocket jokes and random comments that have gotten me and the rest of the staff through long nights at the office.
Lastly, sports. Brandon Ladd and Jack Perdek may have been a main cause of my stress as chief copy editor, but somehow we made a great team and always got a full sports section done by 7 p.m. on Thursdays, a mere hour before we sent the paper off to the publisher.
Everyone else is staying behind and will have to deal with me, and I hope they are just as excited to continue working here as I am.
The end of the semester has really snuck up on me though I feel like I have been waiting to take over the paper since I knew it existed, I know I still have a lot to learn. Working with Ladd over the past few months has taught me so much about how to be a leader, especially one for chaotic college students.
With COVID-19 hopefully over the horizon, I am looking forward to a mostly normal year back in the office with my amazing staff. See you next semester!
Image from Annika Wickham
