The time has come for me to say goodbye to UWO and to the best club/extracurricular on campus, the Advance-Titan.
When I first started the newspaper, I had no idea what I was doing and what I was getting myself into. I walked into the old office in Reeve Union for a random meeting during my third year and didn’t know a single person. I didn’t have any actual experience to my name, and I thought writing about my fish fry experience at a restaurant near campus was “real journalism.”
Through the student newspaper, along with an internship for my hometown newspaper, I found out what real journalism was really like and fell in love with it more. While reporting and writing articles is the backbone of journalism, I started to enjoy the grammar and dreaded AP style that comes with journalism writing, and decided to become the copy desk chief since I enjoyed reading through and adding suggestions to everyone else’s writing. It ended up being a blast, and I am really thankful I decided to get more and more involved with the Advance-Titan over time. I will cherish many memories from my time here.
Over the years with the school newspaper, I met some of the friendliest and nicest people. To those graduating and those continuing on in journalism and with the Advance-Titan, I wish you all the best of luck in school and with your future endeavors!
I want to give a special shoutout to the fellow editors and staff spending late nights on the newspaper and drinks afterwards. Y’all really made my last semester bearable when I just couldn’t wait to graduate. I wish I had applied myself a little sooner so that I could have gotten to know you all better, but I wish you all the best in keeping the newspaper together.
To those in the journalism program or those who have an interest in journalism and are not yet a part of the school newspaper, my best advice I can give is to join in sooner rather than later. You will automatically be welcomed and can grow into a better journalist and student in general. Plus, who wouldn’t want that free journalism experience that you can use in your resume and to build your portfolio?
