I can still perfectly place myself standing in Stafford Commons, unable to believe what was happening.

I paced back and forth, craning my neck in an attempt to spot the end of the line of rabid students that snaked its way around Talley Student Union and past Wolf Plaza, out of sight.

My only thought?

“We’re going to need more papers.”

They were all eagerly clamoring for Technician’s “Why Not Both?” edition. The commemoration of not one, but two once-in-a-lifetime college basketball runs caused a frenzy on campus and throughout the NC State community.

After weeks of seemingly endless articles on improbable victories, days of debate over the best way to honor the monumental month and a couple of near-sleepless nights had me on the ropes. But in that moment, an overwhelming sense of pride washed over me. A feeling of satisfaction, of joy. All that hard work had paid off; we did it all justice.

Most importantly, everyone who took a copy now had a tangible part of their university’s history. It’s something that we at Technician strive for every single week. In fact, it’s our mission. For that week — everyone on campus suddenly was a part of that mission.

It was the highlight of my tenure as Volume 104’s editor-in-chief as we urged the community to ‘pick up a piece of history.’

But it’s not like anyone needed to be told. We had students begging for copies, alumni pleading for papers for their neighbors and even people stealing whole stacks out of newsstands.

All of a sudden, everyone wanted a physical copy of our newspaper. That feeling of pride and joy that finally hit me didn’t come from the news crews covering the creation of the paper or the praise from the community in my overflowing email inbox. It came when I saw people passionate about collecting, owning and saving pieces of history — print newspapers.

We put the same amount of blood, sweat, tears and skipped classes into our “Why Not Both?” edition as we did any other paper. It made me think, “I wish people would pick up our papers like this every week.”

It’s undoubtedly because none of our generation is used to picking up these physical, print newspapers. But, in simple terms, you should.

I’ve been coming home to my trusted stack of Technician newspapers every day for the past three years. It’s given me a chance to physically chronicle my time at NC State University.

Technician is reporting on every momentous, interesting and important story our school and its greater community has to offer. We may not be covering Final Fours every week, but we’ve got stories written by students, for students, about students.

Whether it’s an NC State grad’s campaign for city council, the power of student voices in the wake of Hurricane Helene or the women’s center’s Silent Witness Exhibit, there’s pieces of history in every copy of Technician. In fact, all of those topics were covered in just our last issue alone.

No different than collecting records for your turntable, it’s a nice change of pace to sit down and flip through a newspaper rather than darting through fleeting headlines on your X feed. It’s a physical, historical record of your collegiate experience. Technician’s stands are posted around every corner of campus. And best of all, they’re free.

If you’ve never picked one up, I implore you to take one, and maybe another for your friend. Whether you read one headline or every word, when you pick up Technician, you’re not just picking up a piece of NC State history.

You’re picking up a piece of your history.