I never thought I would be saying goodbye to Reeve 19 from a computer screen, instead of celebrating alongside the A-T team with the ruins of pizza spread around the newsroom. Amid a global pandemic, unique circumstances call for unique solutions.

I was not a team member for nearly as long as I would have liked to be, due to my status as a transfer student, but I valued the time I had in the newsroom just the same. It took a little while to find my footing and zero in on exactly what I wanted to be doing at UW Oshkosh.

I started in the office as a copy editor after a professor noticed I had a passion for finding mistakes. It was like a puzzle to me — what doesn’t fit? What’s wrong here? Where’s Waldo?

On desk, we could be grammar nerds and heavily debate AP rules for hours. I later gave reporting a try as well. I strengthened my editing and story structure skills through writing and learned that quotes are king (good ones, that is).

Thank you to Barb Benish for advising us and keeping us in line, Kaitlyn Scoville for managing desk, Cody Wiesner, who impressed us all by having the entire AP Stylebook memorized, Joe Schulz for challenging me to write, Carter Uslabar for being our fearless leader and a great role model and all the rest for providing a fun and productive environment.

In May, I will be graduating with degrees in theater, advertising and public relations. It’s a little scary to be entering into a workforce that is uncertain during a pandemic, but I am confident that when the world goes back to normal, I am equipped with the skills from the newsroom and the journalism department to help me achieve great things.

My only regret is that I didn’t start sooner. Cheers!