Whew, so this is really it, huh?

Coming in as a transfer student, I had no idea where my place would be on campus. 

But here we are, one summer and five semesters later, and the Texan ultimately became my place. I knew my last semester wouldn’t be movie-perfect, but I surely did not anticipate it would be anything like this.

On March 12, I raced out of the Texan basement hoping I didn’t miss the MetroRapid 803 to head home. I kept swirling the discussions of no longer printing and how everything would be online. Amid the pandemic, nobody knew what was to come. 

Other colleges made the move to transition to remote learning. Then, on March 17, UT-Austin announced that all classes would transition online for the rest of the semester. 

Then it hit me: no last night of print and no commencement. What seemed to be just an ordinary Thursday evening leaving the dimly lit basement was now the last time I ever stepped foot in the basement, let alone the last time I would ever be on the Forty Acres. 

Maybe then, I would have sat at the social media desk longer listening to conversations echoing throughout the basement or stared at the Belo bridge a little bit longer waiting for the crosswalk on West Dean Keeton and Whitis Avenue to light up. 

The same path I’ve walked through a hundred times to get to the Texan staircase — AirPods in, eyes glazed — is now completely out of reach. 

The last two months feel like a blur, but the thing that comes to mind is how in awe I am of the work done by everyone carrying the same passion as I do — telling stories and keeping the UT-Austin community informed. 

I can’t count the number of posts I’ve written over the last two years or the number of times breaking news broke while I was out, but I never thought I’d find myself saying I’m going to miss it all and those who made such an impact during my time here. 

To Michael: You and I have been here far too long. From scheduling posts at 2 a.m. on TweetDeck to holding our phones for nearly two hours during livestreams, I wouldn’t have spent my time on staff or running this department with anyone else. 

To Hal and Katya: In case I didn’t say it enough, thank you for your hard work on p-staff. I’m going to miss our meme-filled group chat when this is all over. 

To Megan: You may not realize it, but I don’t think I would have survived my last semester here without you. Thank you for everything. 

Like Megan Thee Stallion once said, my hot girl (social) semesters are finally over. Now I really don’t have the Texan as an excuse for why I can’t take a social media cleanse.