I never toured UT when picking what college I was going to attend. A week before decisions were due, my parents drove me down from Dallas to take a look at the Forty Acres. We couldn’t find the Tower, so we took a picture in front of the sign outside the Union instead. We stopped by The Daily Texan office, and then we drove home. I committed to UT that night. 

Once I moved in for the fall semester in 2017, the first place I went was The Daily Texan office. Texas was in the midst of Hurricane Harvey, so I was soaked by the time I finished my walk from Jester East. I was excited to be a Longhorn, sure, but I was more excited to be a journalist. 

And The Daily Texan is exactly where I became one. Not through my six semesters of journalism classes, but through three semesters in the news department and six semesters in the audio department. Through late nights covering Student Government, stressful afternoons transcribing interviews and early mornings crouched over Adobe Audition. I’m not graduating yet, but I know the constant string of deadlines, high standards and tough adviser critiques have already more than prepared me for my future as a professional journalist. 

Thank you to Lisa Nhan for telling me I did a good job after my first semester on staff, and you hoped I’d come back. Without that encouragement I might not have. Thank you to Catherine Marfin for hiring me two times after that. 

Thank you to Megan Menchaca … for being Megan Menchaca! I am so grateful for Moody’s FIG program for bringing us together, and I’m even more grateful for the Texan keeping us together. You’re the most impressive journalist I’ve ever met. 

Thank you to JT Lindsey and Morgan Gray. You really should have fired me when I admitted I didn’t know how to open a multitrack session. But you didn’t — you were endlessly patient and encouraging bosses. You turned this mess of a department into something worth listening to. 

Thank you to Aurora Berry, Harper Carlton, Divya Jagadeesh and all of my wonderful reporters. This department would be nothing without you. You are all such creative, competent, beautiful creatures, and I can’t wait to see what you do after this. It’s been a pleasure working with you and laughing with you. 

Most importantly, thank you to all of my sources for letting me tell your stories. I hope I did them justice. 

People who work for the Texan love to joke about hating the Texan. That’s fair — the work is hard and the hours are long. But the truth is I walked into the basement every day bubbling over with excitement about what I had the privilege to help create. I love The Daily Texan. I’m going to miss it dearly.