It’s only been two years, but I feel I’ve lived a thousand lives during my time with the Advance-Titan, and a thousand more for every person I was lucky enough to meet along the way.

I’ve heard many people say that no day looks the same when you work for the media, and I never would’ve known how true this was if I hadn’t taken the opportunity to join the A-T.

It all started in spring 2019 when news editor Christina Basken reached out to me to start writing for the A-T.

My position as a news writer quickly turned into assistant news editor in fall 2019, and soon after I got this promotion I was moving up the ladder once again to news editor in spring 2020.

I remained news editor until this semester, when I took on the role of managing editor and got the opportunity to oversee the paper with Editor in Chief Cory Sparks, otherwise referred to throughout the newsroom as “Grandpa.”

While many people have come and gone during my time at the A-T, there has been no shortage of unique personalities, to say the least.

I could go on and on about the people I’ve been privileged to work with and how much the A-T means to me, but I, regretfully, decided to wait till production night to start writing this.

With that being said, I’ll get to the point so I don’t hold the newsroom up any longer.

Joining the A-T was the best decision I made since I decided to attend UW Oshkosh.

Although the journalism department is excellent, I think the A-T gave me the experience that will be most beneficial in transitioning to life after graduation.

Basically, the classes gave me the skills I need to succeed as a journalist, and the A-T showed me how to apply those skills in the real world.

Besides the hands-on experience of working in a newsroom, the A-T helped me make connections on campus as a commuter student living almost an hour away from UWO.

I could have done without the long drives home at 2 a.m. after late production nights, but being able to spend that time with some of the funniest, most inspiring people I’ve met made it very much worth it.

There are so many moments I wanted to reference in my senior send-off. But now, to reduce these memories to words seems to be an impossible task.

So, I’ll leave this story as cheesy as it began: the A-T and everyone I was privileged to meet here has made my college experience better than I imagined and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.