Wow, it’s been a crazy four years for the Collegian. I remember when I was a freshman, and the senior editors got excited whenever the front page had something besides a football photo above the fold.
Now we get excited when there isn’t anything on the cover at all. I guess that’s an improvement.
But really, I’m glad we’ve found our niche. I’m not sure how much credit I can take for it, but it makes me happy that we have developed a voice more distinctive than “generic student journalists.”
When I was a freshman, I didn’t want to be involved in the Collegian. I thought that I’d need to focus more narrowly on my computer science major and that the newspaper would just be a distraction.
Then Kyle Walker got me writing opinion articles. One of my first was an article critical of turning LaFortune into the International Living Community.
The day that paper came out, I received a lengthy email from then VP of Student Affairs Roger Sorochty asking me to write what amounted to a retraction. The email made my heart pump and my blood boil, and from then on I was hooked on journalism.
Between then and now, I’ve edited 61 issues, written about as many stories and reported on some of the most significant recent happenings at TU. I’ve proofed the same headline for the sixth time at 3 a.m. on a Monday morning, and I’ve chatted with the owner of Hoot Owl on a sunny afternoon about the future of Kendall Whittier.
Working on the Collegian has bettered my time at TU not because it prepared me for anything that would come after but because it was fulfilling in itself. Thank you to all the staffers, advisors, administrators and interviewees who have helped make it that way.
Conor Fellin
Managing Editor
