I’ll start off this letter with an awkward acknowledgment: I never intended to get as involved with The Ticker as I did.

This paper and I had always maintained a casual relationship, characterized by a years-long silence broken only by the occasional exchange of an opinion article for feedback.

That is, until my junior year. I was on the train back from an unpaid internship in a field I wasn’t even sure I liked, when I got a fateful text from Angelica, the previous opinion editor, about taking over her role.

I agreed because I didn’t have a choice. I was floating and The Ticker had opportunely transformed into a buoy amid a sea of pre-graduation uncertainties.

Thinking back to this moment, I’m reminded of a saying of unknown origin: “Become the ocean or get dragged in the tide.”

I’ve only consciously begun embracing this philosophy in recent months, but the day I accepted the role of opinions editor was probably the first time I willingly relinquished control at the shore of the unknown.

The year and a half which followed was filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows of my entire life, including moments of crippling self-doubt as well as euphoric achievement.

I sent out my first topics email last summer. I remember sitting, sweating in a public square in Tel Aviv, not because of the Middle Eastern heat, but because I had never sent an email to 200 people.

Several months later, just when I had finally caught onto the rigamarole of The Ticker’s publication cycle, the paper went into print.

I remember staring at a blank layout with a sense of dread clawing at my chest. I realized that I’d have to get into the ring with technology, my greatest enemy, every Thursday until the end of the semester. It was a prison sentence.

For the first several issues, I’d be helplessly clicking at a broken text box while the other section editors were already handing in their finished layouts.

It seemed unbearable at first, but slowly but surely, I conquered Adobe InDesign.

I’m proud to say that I’m now usually the first one out the door on production days and that I’ve become proficient enough in the program to teach it to my successor.

I’m also proud of my work ethic this semester. Aside from The Ticker, I completed a reporting internship, handed in an 80-page thesis and managed to stay awake in most of my non-major classes.

I don’t think I’d feel the same sense of accomplishment if not for my tenure at this incredible college newspaper.

I’m forever grateful to Angelica, my predecessor, for getting me involved and for trusting me enough to continue her hard work. Her mentorship was vital to my success at The Ticker.

I’m thankful to Emanuela and Farah for their leadership and constant support throughout the past two semesters. I’m also thankful to Gabe, who definitely lost eyesight over proof-reading my layouts and whose edits were always so sharp and insightful.

Lastly, I’m so thankful to everyone else that’d make me laugh amid the chaos of Thursday evenings in the media suite. I’m so, so grateful to the rest of the section editors for the sense of community they provided me with.

And to everyone else that I’ve shared a laugh with or ranted to in the media suite: from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Without knowing it, you guys made my senior year.

And finally, I’m thankful for The Ticker for helping me prove to myself that I’m capable and that the best is yet to come. I’ll hold these lessons close to my heart as I graduate and inevitably show up at my next crossroads, where-in I’ll remember to let go and become the sea.