Editor’s note: A 30 column is a chance for departing permanent staff to say farewell and reflect on their time spent in The Daily Texan’s basement office. The term comes from the old typesetting mark (-30-) to denote the end of a line. 

Before applying for The Daily Texan, I made a pros and cons list. I was sitting on my bed freshman year, piles of pamphlets fanned around me, having just gotten back from one of the many activity fairs we are all subject to in those first weeks of college. 

Hours were spent mulling over what clubs I should join, trying to figure out who I would be at UT. I’d heard of the Texan and its century-old reputation as a top college paper, and I almost didn’t apply out of fear of rejection.  But before making that call, I did what I always do when making major decisions: I made a pros and cons list.

Ultimately there were more pros than cons, an arbitrary tally that managed to calm my nerves, and I applied. The Life&Arts editor hired me, for whatever reason, and thus my career at the Texan started. 

I couldn’t have known then the impact the Texan would have on me.

I’ve made a number of Texan related pros and cons list over the past three years. Five when deciding if I wanted to take an editing position in Life&Arts or make the switch to news. Another list when choosing between lege reporting and news editing. I made a couple more to determine if I should even come back to the Texan to work for special ventures, or if I should put all of my energy into school and internships. 

When deciding to write this 30 column, I was prepared to do what I always do. List out all of the pros and cons. Weigh and overthink every possible scenario. But I didn’t. Well, mentally maybe, but there is no carbon copy list this time around.

There will always be a reason to stay at the Texan. There will always be more pros than cons.  I don’t need a list to tell me that. But there’s a point when it’s time to leave, and it sucks, but you go. It’s a gut thing — a non-calculated decision that you just have to make eventually.

So what’s the biggest pro of the dim-lit basement? I’ve made my best friends here, many of who are some of the most talented people I know.

Thank you to those who have helped me to grow at the Texan. Thank you to my special ventures staff, editors and mentors. Thank you for Capitol visits, curry runs, Taboo matches and water gun fights.

And because I can’t ignore an excuse to quote “The Office,” as Michael Scott once said, “The people that you work with are just, when you get down to it, your very best friends.”

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