When I decided to attend the University of Texas, I had one aspiration in mind: to be the Sports Editor of The Daily Texan. 

I worked in the same position in high school and was just cocky enough to think I would have an assigned seat at the front of the bus to success. I applied in my first semester to join the sports section under then-editor Nathan Han, expecting an easy entrance into the group like I had gotten in high school.

Yet when I checked my email a week after my interview, I was hit with a major roadblock: rejection. 

Nathan gave me the most important gift of my college experience that day. Without him showing me how to deal with rejection and turn around and make something of myself when I wasn’t good enough yet, I never would’ve become the writer and editor I am today.

I set out to become a better writer in the spring, spending almost triple the time on my two tryout articles and practicing my interviewing skills with my roommate so our new editor, Hannah Williford, wouldn’t be able to say no to me. She couldn’t, and I joined a new group of writers who would become my closest friends at the Texan.

Lindsey Plotkin joined that semester and has been the best co-writer and editor I could’ve asked for since. We spent way too much time of our junior year scrambling to press boxes and stopping at Buccees while covering the best Texas football team in 14 years. We entered the football beat barely familiar but left having traveled to Tuscaloosa, New Orleans and all around Texas, helping each other to become the best writers we could. Big Plot deserves a Nobel Prize for dealing with me hopped up on caffeine and Catan for four long months.

Katie Borchetta also joined that semester and has been one of our hardest workers ever since. Whether it was giving me advice when we were both still trying to figure out how we’d earned promotions or having my back as a spectacular associate sports editor, Katie has been one of the driving forces that has made the Texan sports section even remotely functional. 

I obviously can’t forget those who joined before me. Emma Hutchinson, the overachiever, was accepted in her first semester and has been a model writer and contributor for the Texan ever since. 

Hannah and Nathan were great leaders, but two editors shaped who I became. Matthew Boncosky was my editor for just one semester, but he gave me my first real promotion in sports. Covering soccer was a huge stepping stone in my growth as a writer, and he had no reason to give it to me other than me being really passionate about the sport (current Evan would’ve never given sophomore Evan that beat, just FYI). 

Christina Huang became my mentor as soon as I joined P-staff for the first time in the spring of 2023. The epitome of tough love, her stern leadership pushed me to be a better writer and a harder worker, something I had always struggled with. She promoted me to associate sports editor and football beat writer, and if it weren’t for her I would have never experienced the most chaotic but best semester of my life. 

I have so much love for so many parts of this paper, and it’ll be impossible to list everything I’ll miss. Sitting at the ping pong table for meetings, chatting with Peter about how the Texas football team isn’t good enough or volunteering the stupidest answer possible to icebreakers. The most mundane moments will be the ones that I will struggle to leave behind as I enter a new chapter in my life.

There are way too many great memories and even better people I could shout out, but there are a few that can’t be left out of my Daily Texan story.

The Tuscaloosers, a stupid group chat named turned road-trip-buddies, helped keep me sane throughout that football season. Lindsey, Lorianne Willett and Kennedy Weatherby helped form an unstoppable quartet of some of the most talented people on the entire paper. That New Orleans trip will always be special, and no matter what bumps in the road (literally and figuratively) we came across we always found a way to get through it with a smile on our faces and Texan pride in our hearts. Those two photographers will be the best in the business in a few years, mark my words.

I also have to thank the rest of my P-staff: Isa, Meaghan, and Lauren, the paper is in great hands under y’all and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next phase of writers.

Thank you Peter for being the best possible advisor and always keeping a smile on our faces (I know I’m his favorite department head too).

Thank you to Breigh, Ireland and Amelia for believing in me enough to put me in a position to make a difference and produce content that I never thought I could do. 

And lastly, and most importantly, thank you to everyone in the sports section. We never were the most social, the best communicators on Slack, or very responsible during whole-staff meetings (that’s probably my fault), but I wouldn’t trade this group of 32 writers for the world. Y’all made this experience so special for me, and if I had more space I’d thank each and every one of you. Please continue to be curious, continue to push for more in the Texan, and never be afraid to be told no.

It may just be the best thing to happen to you.