How do you summarize three-and-a-half years working on the school paper?
We could start by telling you about what it’s like to cover South Carolina’s women’s basketball team winning a national championship. Or how we spent endless nights in the newsroom, working on content with very little sleep.
But that truly wouldn’t capture it.
It’s something that the four of us — Emmy, Griffin, Kate and Sydney — have had to grapple with as we end our last semester with The Daily Gamecock in December.
We all started The Daily Gamecock our first semester freshman year, and now the four of us have been on the organization’s editorial staff the longest.
Accepting the fact that we won’t always be covering USC and interacting with people in the newsroom has been bittersweet.
We’ve been so fortunate during our time to be surrounded by people who have mentored us, close friends who have supported us and others who have helped us grow as journalists. For us, the newsroom and the people within it have become a central part of our identity. And it feels weird to suddenly lose that.
Still, we know it’s time to move on. When we each first started at the student paper, we had so much to learn. Now three-and-a-half years later, we find ourselves in a space where we need to give others the opportunity to grow and make the organization their own.
But recognizing that doesn’t make it any easier to step away. In fact, it makes it harder for us to go away from something that has challenged us greatly but has also oddly given us a sense of comfort at times.
So how would we describe what it’s been like to be a part of The Daily Gamecock? It may seem cliché to say, but it feels like home.
Following the first Daily Gamecock interest meeting, a few of us who had only met hours before walked around on campus discussing how excited we were to be joining the organization.
Now, we are all saying our goodbyes together, and we know this isn’t just unique to us.
Many students across this university have found their own version of a home away from home. Whether you’ve gotten involved with club sports, Greek Life or other branches of campus, you have found your community. And while it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, you probably couldn’t imagine not being a part of it.
This is what the newsroom and the people within The Daily Gamecock have come to mean to us.
And now as we prepare ourselves to leave not just the organization but the university, we hope to leave you with this: Find your home.
It will challenge you, and it may sometimes make you question your decision to stay. But damn is it worth it.
Sincerely,
Kate Robins, editor-in-chief
Sydney Dunlap, outreach director
Emmy Ribero, news editor
Griffin Goodwyn, sports editor