Before I depart from Baruch College with my bachelor’s degree in public affairs, I want to use my final written submission to The Ticker to reflect and hopefully impart some wisdom to all of you in my farewell letter.

I served as the opinions editor for The Ticker for a year, and that year was none other than 2020-2021, amid the coronavirus pandemic. My role as the opinions editor was done 100% remotely, but this isn’t to say that my experience was any less eventful. In fact, it was the opposite.

Like many of you, I have lost a lot due to the pandemic. I lost a family member and the ability to enjoy my senior year in person, but, with The Ticker, I felt like I gained a whole new family.

After transferring to Baruch from Hunter College in the fall semester of 2019, and after writing for The Ticker’s news section for a couple of months, an unexpected vacancy in the opinions section gave me the opportunity to become editor. If I didn’t trust my gut telling me that I needed a new academic environment, I would have never met Amanda Salazar, The Ticker’s managing editor, who introduced me to the paper and took a chance on me with my limited journalistic knowledge.

When I joined as a section editor, I made it my job to get to know everyone — other section editors, copy editors and as many writers as I possibly could — and in doing so, I’ve made some long-lasting friendships and learned that the staff on The Ticker is extremely hard working.

Some of them want to pursue journalism as a full-time career post-graduation. Others, like me, just appreciate writing, reporting and editing as a pastime, especially among the companionship of others within the paper. Regardless of why you join The Ticker, everyone at one point or another finds themselves dedicated to this publication.

Like many of the staff, I have also dedicated myself to this paper, especially the opinions section. Although some people may just view opinions as a section with articles written by emotional students ranting about minuscule things, I learned that the opinions section is truly unique because it is the only section that allows us to question authority and publicize why critical issues matter.

Such issues we published include the hate crimes faced by Asian Americans, the importance of mental health in the workplace, registering for classes at Baruch, police brutality, inaccurate representations of the Muslim community and the list continues.

We didn’t shy away from publishing our thoughts on light-hearted content either, like what makes a pickle business successful, why more politicians should play Among Us and why astrology should be appreciated. Articles like these fill the section with creativity and personality, and never fail to make me smile.

If there’s anything that you should walk away with knowing after reading this letter, it’s that how you express yourself through the stories you share, whether it’s to a publication or a friend, is vital to discovering who you are, and what better time to do that than in college?

So, if you’re deciding how to enhance your experience at Baruch, I highly advise taking new chances and joining student organizations — especially The Ticker — because you never know what new home you might discover once the pandemic subsides.