Just four semesters ago, when I signed up to be a copy editor and to work three hours a week, I never imagined that I would eventually find myself in the position of editor in chief and working more or less endlessly on the paper.
I never truly understood what it meant to have a love-hate relationship with something until I became heavily involved with The Hustler.
I spend about half the hours of my weeks working on the paper, and this, combined with a commitment to Versus and several other activities, leaves precious little time for other things. Like sleep. I get frustrated with the time I spend in this windowless basement and the toll it takes on my patience and on my sanity.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way. When I started working at The Hustler, I found something I knew I would love, and I found the people who have become my family at Vanderbilt. I can’t imagine my college experience without The Hustler and without the staff.
This semester has been extraordinarily difficult. When the Board of Directors voted to remove former Editor in Chief Jarred Amato and asked me to fill in the position, I knew I was in for a challenge. Taking over a paper is a difficult task, one that, in hindsight, I was not fully prepared for.
My goal for the semester was to maintain quality and get the paper on the racks every morning. I heard doubts about the staff’s ability to do that in the wake of Jarred’s removal, and I’m proud to say those doubts were entirely unfounded.
My experience at the paper has come with costs — decent grades, friendships, sleep — but the experience has been invaluable. I’ve learned more about myself, my friends, journalism and professionalism in Sarratt 130 than I have in any classroom, and I could not be more grateful for that.
The staff, the advisers and, most of all, my friends have kept me going for the last semester and are the reason I’m able to do what I do. So thank you to everyone for giving me a certainly memorable senior year.
