Similar to almost everything I write, I delayed writing this “goodbye” as much as possible. Meredith Shamburger wrote her “goodbye” last week and set the bar too high for the rest of us to even attempt at meeting her standard.
Intimidation aside, the time has come for me to say goodbye to this workplace that has been my home for the last couple of years.
I joined The Daily Campus staff as a writer (because Professor Carolyn Barta insisted I do so) almost three years ago, and I now lead an amazing group that will continue this paper’s legacy.
When I joined the editorial staff, the editor in chief was Nicole Jacobsen, whom I remember as the one laying out the front page many nights and coming up with the headline, “A shot of Padron.” As I went through this semester as EIC, my favorite aspect was working with the people in the newsroom, and I realized a lot of my skills for leading a staff came from working with Nicole.
I learned my fundamentals in my journalism classes in Umphrey Lee (mostly rooms 285 and 288). Tony Pederson instilled the ethics every journalist should have; Barta drilled AP into my brain (a skill I brag about often); Karen Thomas inspired me to write features both when I worked with her in class and when I read her work in The Dallas Morning News; Mark Vamos is my go-to person for how to write food reviews, he’s also the reason I refrain from using dashes—and Jake Batsell has been a significant help in the on-going job hunt, I don’t know how I would do it without him.
But it was in my time with The DC that I was able to practice and further develop all that I learned in the journalism department. I thank every staff member of every team I worked with here to help make me realize that journalism is what I am meant to do.
It’s because of Meredith Shamburger that I tried to be the “campus watchdog” when I was news editor. It’s because of Jessica Huseman that I ended up applying for editor in chief. I learned the potential that a great photo can bring to a page from Michael Danser. Sarah Kramer and Ashley Withers proved to be a great news team, one that made me able to finally let go of the news desk when I took EIC. And Josh Parr, a shaggy-haired boy when I met him in Professor Knock’s history class, has been a close work partner of mine through my time here, pushing me to do the best I could in this paper.
As many still don’t know, The Daily Mustang is merging with The Daily Campus, and the newly appointed staff members have quite a lot on their plates with figuring out the new dynamic. I have no doubt it will be more difficult than hoped, but I also know the new team will not forget that the sole purpose of this paper is to bring the campus news to the students, and they will do so in ways better than before.
As readers peruse this last edition of The Daily Campus for the spring of 2011, I hope they look at more than the Sudoku puzzle. Effort goes into each page by each staff member that cannot even be described.
I’ve stayed up late, worrying about a controversial story going to print the next day; writing stories for the paper has taken priority over school work before; I’ve done the layout of one page multiple times in one night because stories kept changing; people have cried to me, others have yelled at me. I have a feeling many of my favorite college memories are going to be from this newsroom.
So to all the seniors, I wish you well in all of your endeavors, whether the plan involves grad school, a job, or still looking for a job. And to all others, keep beating the standards set by the seniors, and, of course, pony up.
Taylor Adams has served as editor in chief, news editor, associate news editor and staff writer of The Daily Campus. She is a senior journalism major and can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].
