Time working on paper creates lifelong lessons
When the last issue of The Renaissance left my hands during lunch at Dutch Fork High School, I received a sobering reminder that my two year tenure as Editor-in-Chief was over.
My adventures had me nearly blown out of a deer stand during football games, climbing impossible heights to get that “perfect” shot and it had given me the opportunity to meet some of the most brilliant people I never would have met anywhere else.
Once again, I am met with that same reminder that my time as Editor-in-Chief has come and gone, and it probably won’t really hit me until after this column goes to print. I started the summer feeling completely in control. I mean why shouldn’t I? I had already tamed my last publication, and provided a foundation that is still being built upon today, what couldn’t this hardened editor tackle next?
I don’t think I have fallen on my face as many times as I have this summer. The Daily Gamecock has taught me lessons that nothing prior could have ever prepared me for.
I often felt myself amazed that there was a paper going to be printed on my drives back home, between all the chaos of planning an issue and the sheer amount of frustration wrestling with InDesign trying to get the pages to export correctly. No amount of preparation could ever prepare anyone for dealing with the public blow-back from an inflammatory editorial; or having to gather the courage to tell someone that they weren’t allowed to write for the paper any longer.
It’s strange to think that my time at USC would have been so different if I hadn’t read an email a year ago reminding me of a Daily Gamecock interest meeting. I would have never gotten the chance to be in the presence of some of the most hardworking, funny, exciting and clever people on campus.
I urge you to find your niche, a place that you feel comfortable, a place where you can challenge yourself and experience something that a classroom could never prepare you for. When I finally walk across the stage and accept my diploma, I won’t remember all the missed assignments, the late nights studying for a grade defining final or putting the finishing touches on a project due the next day.
I will remember all the times sitting around in the newsroom laughing with my friends, nearly ripping the hair off of my head as we frantically try and make deadline, or the times trying to stuff our cars with as many staff members as possible so we could make a late-night run to Cook-Out after finishing a special edition of the paper.
Even if you don’t become a part of our family, I hope that you find a place that defines your experience at USC, because that is what has made all the difference.