I have led The Vanderbilt Hustler through 84 production nights in my year as editor in chief. Before that, I presided over another 21 as managing editor and produced the news section for another 42. I have spent at least 1,323 hours of my life in the windowless Hustler newsroom - probably more. If you think I have no life, you're pretty much right. But sad as that may seem, I have learned more about journalism, leadership and life from long nights spent in the newsroom than anything.

There have been ups and downs, as with anything in life. I still blow my 10 p.m. deadline almost every night, but I am proud of the progress the paper, Web site and staff have made in my time here. Student media at Vanderbilt - The Hustler in particular - has changed so much since I came to the university almost four years ago. We had just moved to three days a week when I started my freshman year, and InsideVandy.com did not even exist. We now publish a high-quality product three times a week and sustain a 24/7 Web site. I am thankful to have had the chance to make my impact on the organization, and I am confident that I leave it in capable hands.

My 1,323 hours in the newsroom have generally been crazy, but I can honestly affirm that my last production night was my most memorable.

This issue came "this close" to not happening. The Hustler server, which has served (pun intended) me well for the past 147 production nights, decided to crash at 9 p.m. Thursday night, almost denying me the opportunity to see my last Hustler issue to completion. All the articles, photos, ads and design templates we depend on could not be accessed, and we were without a Plan B.

It would have been weird to see my final efforts thwarted by an unruly piece of computer equipment after all this time. But with a little creative computing and a few extra hours, we were able to accomplish our goal.

I was supposed to be out of the office early tonight; I even added extra crossword puzzles to this issue to ensure I would be home at a decent hour. But this just demonstrates what I mean when I say life in student media has taught me a lot about life in the real world. Things usually don't go according to plan, but the importance of perseverance cannot be underestimated in any situation.

So - Thank you Jim Hayes, Matt Radford and the Apple gods for making my last issue possible. Thank you to the rest of my staff for hanging in there with me. And most of all, thank you to my friends for keeping me sane from my first production night to my 147th.