In my first semester at UT I spent many nights in my Jester dorm room, unfulfilled and upset by the let-down I felt college was. I received rejections from various organizations around campus, causing me to feel unworthy and alone. 

Well, the second semester of my freshman year I applied to The Daily Texan news department: and the rest is history.

I can not begin to express in words (though I have written thousands of them during my time at the Texan) how much this newspaper, and more specifically, these people, mean to me. The friends I have made in the basement have shaped my college career — they are the most genuine and most caring individuals I have encountered at UT, and maybe ever. 

In many ways I am ready to leave college. I am ready for a fresh start, to (hopefully) explore the world — but I am far from ready to leave The Daily Texan. I could stay in this space forever. The Texan has given me the opportunity to meet individuals I might have never encountered elsewhere, and for this I am eternally grateful. 

I am eternally grateful because a day in the basement looks like: walking in and seeing your friends working. Smiling at them and saying hi, always seeing them smile back, and saying hi back, most excitedly. It looks like working alongside people who care equally as much as you do about the common goal. It looks like helping each other, in every situation. It looks like walking home together in the cold, or the heat, and complaining about the weather, but staying distracted by giggling together through post-basement chats the entire time.

I always felt I could tell my Texan friends anything. Sometimes I could tell them things I wouldn’t tell most other people. It just works that way, because the space these people hold in my heart is so huge and so genuine, that I can always be my complete self around them.

I want to take my last few inches at the Texan (ever, ah!) to thank the people who have shaped me and my experience at this newspaper:

Thank you Skye, for being so wonderful as a co-breaking news reporter, and then years later, pushing and encouraging me as my projects editor. Thank you Tori and Kevin, for being the most amazing support during my time as news editor. I am so lucky to have grown at the Texan alongside you both.

Thank you Katy, Morgan, Maddie, Leena and Rylie: your talent and work ethic made my job as fall news editor so wonderful. Thank you Joelle, for your kind words, your smile and your friendship. Thank you Ali, for trusting me and for listening to me. Thank you Hope, for all of the walks home. 

Thank you to The Daily Texan, for being timelessly special. I will never forget you.