It was August of 2016 and I was about to begin my college career in a couple of weeks. As I was busy shopping for dorm supplies and enjoying the final weeks of Summer, someone reached out to me about joining Odyssey. It sounded like a great idea especially since I love writing and definitely wanted to continue to be involved in college like I was in high school. So, I said yes and wrote the first of 93 articles just a few days later.

I met a few great writers on this team who taught me so much about writing and who believed in me and my work. As I eventually took on leadership roles within in the team, I learned so much. Writing articles on a weekly basis and being a leader was challenging at times, but was beyond worthwhile.

Odyssey was a great way for me to actively pursue my love of writing and my many interests. I kept at it and wrote about a variety of topics that I am passionate about. I loved getting to share my passion with others. Bring able to genuinely influence and help other people made this experience so worth it (and it was what kept me going). I am still absolutely stunned at how many people have read my articles over the last couple of years (including a few famous people)!

For me, writing for Odyssey was not all about getting a ton of page views. I always said that as long as I helped one person, made one person smile, or helped someone out through my articles, that all of my hard work was worth it. I never imagined that I would end up writing almost 100 articles or just how much I would enjoy this experience.

So much has changed in the last two years. I have met some of my greatest friends and am officially pursuing my dream of becoming a teacher. As I become an upperclassmen and officially leave the world of general education classes and prerequisites behind, I am busier than ever as I am immersed in the upper-level classes for my major. Although I love writing and have enjoyed writing content for Odyssey so much, the time for me to move on has come. I am proud of the work I have done and can honestly say that I am so happy to have shared many of the things I have learned and am so passionate about in life.

Therefore, to anyone who has read my articles, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy lives to read something I wrote. It truly means the world to me and this great experience would never has been possible without you all. I hope I helped you or made you smile in some way during a time when you really needed it.

Finally, to Odyssey itself, thank you for giving college students like me the chance to publicly publish our real opinions and thoughts. The freedom you give to the writers in unprecedented and I never could have written for so long without that freedom. I am so thankful for the fact that my articles will live on forever online and that I can always look back at them.