What a ride it’s been! I can’t believe it’s time to say goodbye, but here we are.

I entered Baruch College in September 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes were all being conducted remotely. It was a depressing way to start college, especially after graduating high school virtually just months prior.

I figured that I should do something productive with my newfound free time. I knew I liked writing, as I had taken a journalism course in high school and enjoyed it, so I decided to join The Ticker.

At The Ticker, I found the perfect opportunity: to write as much as I wanted whenever I wanted. What I found that I did not expect was the community — which has been the most valuable part of my experience.

I became sports editor at the end of the spring 2022 semester and it has been my favorite aspect of being at Baruch.

I have met so many phenomenal people, from colleagues and writers to anyone else in the media suite, whom I am grateful to call my friends.

One of my proudest achievements in my tenure has been the sports section’s growth.

In my first semester as sports editor, I noticed that there were not many writers. We have a pretty large mailing list — well over 100 people — but I was receiving maybe one or two articles per weekly issue.

I took some time to reflect following the first semester and found the key to growing the sports section: establishing genuine connections.

When providing feedback to writers, I noticed how important it is to genuinely compliment work before providing constructive criticism. While it is my job as sports editor to provide edits, I realized it is my responsibility, and priority, to make writers want to write for sports.

I began changing the way I provide feedback — ensuring I always focus on the more genuinely positive aspects of writing — rather than just going in about what was wrong.

I am proud to say the sports section is now one of the largest in The Ticker. In fact, in spring 2023’s Issue 6, we had the most articles written out of any section — something I would have never dreamed of.

But let me be clear: none of this would have happened without my writers. Thank you to all my writers, whether you wrote for me once or every week. I have full faith that your next sports editor, Victoria Lisi, will do a fantastic job in maintaining the section’s success.

Over time, I will naturally forget many of the articles we wrote. But I will never forget the late nights and good times we had preparing the paper for print. Those bonds and memories in the media suite are what I will remember most about my time at The Ticker and Baruch overall.

I want to end this letter with a quote by former First Lady Barbara Bush on the importance of establishing and valuing genuine connections with other people.

“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret the time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child or a parent.”