The last issue of The Carroll News for this year was published this week, and it was such an exciting and bittersweet feeling. Knowing that this is the last issue for the year means I finally have to begin accepting that my freshman year will be complete in two weeks.

I remember when I got the email from Mary Frances at the beginning of the school year that said the place and time for the first Carroll News meeting. I remember walking into the packed newsroom, and listening as the editors rattled off ideas for articles for that issue. When I heard an idea about EpiPens, I decided that I would write that article. I was completely nervous about writing for a collegiate, award-winning paper since I had never done anything like that before; nevertheless, I approached the business section editor and asked to write the article. The same meeting they announced that they were looking for copy editors, so I approached Carly, the managing editor, and asked about the responsibilities of a copy editor and told her that I could take a shift. This was the best decision I made my entire freshman year.

Although I enjoyed writing immensely, it was all of the Tuesday nights I spent in the newsroom that really made me love being a part of The Carroll News staff. I will never forget how warm and welcoming everyone in that room was, especially Laura, Julie, Carly, Mary Frances and Bob Noll. Each one of them always asked me how I was doing and made an effort to make me feel comfortable whenever I was in the newsroom.

I am not sure anyone realized how much of an impact they made on me, but spending every Tuesday night in the newsroom, on deadline night, was probably the biggest blessing of my freshman year. I got to know many of the editors, listen to crazy rants about politics and the caf, and be involved with a great extra-curricular that helped me decide to be a journalism major.

As we transitioned from the old staff to the new staff two weeks ago, I became one the two Campus Editors. It is still crazy for me to say that, and I pretty much talk about it constantly because I love it so much. These two weeks of publications have been so fun for me, especially writing several articles per week and seeing “Campus Editor” under my name.

I am so blessed to be a part of this amazing group of people, and I want to thank all of the people that were involved in The Carroll News who impacted my freshman year.