Everyone will change during their time in college. That statement may seem obvious, but it took me four years, as well as a series of life lessons — some pleasant, others less so — to truly appreciate it. In some ways, very little in my time at U.Va. remained constant — I changed clubs, classes, majors and career plans more than I ever expected to, and I’m positive my first-year self could never have anticipated how different of a person I would be by the spring of my fourth year.
Nowhere is this nonlinear path reflected more than in the motley of roles I have held at The Cavalier Daily. Looking at my author page on the newspaper’s website, which contains everything from state politics coverage to baking recipes, might give some readers a sense of whiplash. As I write my last ever piece for The Cavalier Daily, I realize there is nowhere that better encapsulates my own winding path through college than my work as a writer and editor for the newspaper.
I began writing for The Cavalier Daily’s news desk in the spring of my first year, at a time when I was still finding my footing at the University. I vividly remember how excited I was when I first shuffled into the back of the newspaper’s cramped, dimly lit office for my first meeting, as well as the mix of eagerness and anxiety I felt when I got my first assignment of covering a Board of Visitors committee meeting. Writing stories about topics big and small quickly became more than just a club commitment. To me, it was a passion and a purpose, and I was committed to putting as much of myself into the newspaper as I could…