You know, when I came into this job as editor, I thought it would be fun to be a college student doing some journalism on the side. Within a month, it quickly became apparent that I was more of a student journalist taking some classes on the side.

I got to write about critical issues — mistreatment of student leaders, a thousand-person protest in Talley, the systemic issues our graduate students face and a pandemic that we surely won’t forget about anytime soon. I covered our Student Government probably more in depth than anyone ever has, and I helped come up with rigorous questions for this year’s election debate. It’s an experience I would never trade away.

I started at Technician relatively late in my college career, in the fall semester of my third year. My roommate, a videographer who ended up getting promoted a couple of times, had always talked about what he was doing at Technician, and he encouraged me to go to a news meeting. I wasn’t really doing anything else at the time, so why not? On one fateful Sunday in September, I walked into the Technician office, excitedly greeted by a group of student journalists. 

All it took was one “Would you like to take a story?” from Alicia Thomas, former news editor and current managing editor, and it was too late for me. I was in.

Before joining Technician…let’s just say I was a little naive. I thought I had it all figured out, and I was just at NC State to get my degree and a job after. I wasn’t really involved with anything on campus; I had plenty of friends, and I enjoyed my time, but joining our student newspaper gave me something I lacked: a drive to do more.

I was suddenly challenged with something entirely new to me: journalism. I had next to no relevant experience, outside of knowing how to write somewhat competently. This was also jarring because I had gotten way too comfortable in my prior two years of college; I had a routine and I rarely deviated from it. It turns out, this challenge was just what I needed — it woke me up. I wanted to succeed, both for myself, and because I was now invested in the success of Technician. I was a part of something bigger than myself, a chain of student journalists stretching back 100 years.

Was I a perfect news editor? Obviously, if you ignore my copy editing errors, tendency to annoy other editors, coming to meetings late, missing deadlines, forgetting to assign topics, burning more than a few bridges with sources … I’ll stop myself. Was I alright? Yeah, I think so, but I had a lot of help along the way.

Long gone former editor-in-chief, Jonathan Carter, you managed to instill a passion for journalism in me that isn’t going away. Ten years down the line, when we’re both living in New York, and you’re the editor of some major news outlet, you wanna give me a job? Of course, Rachael Davis, thanks for being a positive force in the office and co-writing some pretty serious stories with me. If Technician’s next year is anything like the 100th anniversary book, it’s going to be spectacular. The closest person to a partner in the news section I’ve had, Alicia Thomas, thank you so much for teaching me how to competently run a section. We’ve butted heads plenty of times, but I’ll miss working alongside you. You have an incredible intuition for news writing; I still have fond memories of being a correspondent and frantically texting you questions about my articles.

Riley Wolfram, Cassie Englund and Anna Beth McCormick, the section is yours. Remember to fight with sports for top story, tell the copy desk thanks for catching edits you missed and keep bugging administrators — they’ll talk if you’re persistent enough. It’s a tough job, but be confident and you’ll do fine. You also have Rachael and Alicia, they were way better news editors than I was, anyway!

Finally, Dan Gilliam. It’s been an insane year, and you’ve done a phenomenal job. More than that, you’ve taught me to be confident in my own decisions as a section leader and editor. It certainly isn’t easy when your boss also happens to be your best friend, let alone your roommate, but we made it work.

All these people have made me a better editor and person, pushing me to do more. My time at Technician has taught me to be confident, driven and to never get complacent again. The future is uncertain, but I’m confident Technician will come out of this and thrive. To the editorial board of Technician Volume 101, I leave you with a quote from Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo”:

“Until the day God deigns to reveal the future to man, the sum of all human wisdom shall be contained in these two words: Wait and hope.”