I joined The Ticker as a freshman because it felt like a necessary precursor to being a journalism major. I only picked up journalism because I liked to write and wanted to work in the media industry someday.

I began writing short, cute reviews for the Arts section about my favorite albums, starting with Ariana Grande’s “Sweetener” in the first issue that year.

The album randomly appeared on my Spotify shuffle recently, and I immediately remembered how my freshman year self was so scared to have a published piece exist online.

I didn’t have many expectations for what would happen after my review went up, but what followed was a long, fun and stressful journey I value more than I could’ve ever expected.

The Ticker ended up being invaluable for me these past four years. It served as the middleman to my introduction to so many amazing people, and my timeline of being a staff writer to the arts editor to the marketing director is paralleled with amazing memories with these precious individuals.

It’s such a blessing to have grown with so many people I love while working on a shared passion. Our free food-fueled efforts resulted in great work, but I value our time together above anything else. My college experience would have been truly lonelier, much hungrier and more confusing if it wasn’t for these people.

Unsurprisingly, not all these moments were bright. We’ve seen many personality clashes, growing pains and general drama and disagreements, but all of them eventually boiled down to being a reminder of everyone’s humanity and point of reflection for what that means.

For me, this meant realizing that the newspaper isn’t the most important thing about The Ticker.

Everyone views The Ticker differently, but all of us should see past the black and white of our newspaper andinstead prioritize every opportunity to give people the dignity, chance, friendship and free food they deserve.

I hope past mistakes don’t repeat, but most importantly, I hope all students can heal and have the most fun possible in the future. I feel so lucky to have experienced a solid sliver of in-person events and Ticker traditions, and I want nothing more for students to regain what was lost tenfold.

I hope my fellow graduates take time to also reflect and relax. The last four years have been the rarest arrangement of challenges any editorial board has faced. We missed out on so much, did more than anyone ever expected and faced a world many never dreamed could exist.

I am not confident everything will be perfect. Still, knowing the talent and passion we all built up, I am confident we will succeed and be alright.

I have gained more experience in the media landscape since my first Ariana Grande review, which is what I originally wanted from joining my college’s newspaper. My writing is better; I interned at amazing places.

I’m very excited for the coming years, but none of what I’ll face will be comparable to or even possible without my time at The Ticker.

Thank you and stay safe.