From left, Dana Lee, Zach Horrall, Marisa Miller, Adam Cvik, Drew Favakeh and Madeleine Lucchetti celebrate after winning awards at the SPJ Region 5 Mark of Excellence awards in Louisville. Photo courtesy of Dana Lee
DANA LEE | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | delee1@butler.edu
I am, by nature, not terribly sentimental. I suspect my attitude towards graduation is similar to how a 1-year-old must feel at their own birthday celebration. Neither of us quite know what to do with ourselves upon reaching said milestone except to sit and eat cake.
I say this so you may understand the predicament I’m in as I say goodbye to this paper. When it comes to leaving the Collegian, it’s not that I lack the sentiment; but after four years of studying journalism, I’m missing the words to properly express what this paper has meant to me.
Our Wednesday publication date has been one of the most consistent aspects of my time at Butler, no matter how hard I tried to ignore deadlines as a reporter. Like many before me, I owe a great deal to the Collegian. This staff inspires me to be resourceful and fearless, and I hand off the baton knowing this paper will continue to shape student journalists just as it has always done.
Often on Tuesdays, the Collegian office lights are on past 2 a.m. and more than one reporter has jumped rope on the second floor of Fairbanks to keep sleep at bay.
College journalism faces more than its fair share of challenges. As a student newsroom, we are responsible for developing reporters while striving to be as professional as possible. Often, as every editor-in-chief will realize, these two objectives conflict by nature.
Obstacles remain, and yet I am undone by what this staff has and will accomplish. Here I am only scratching at the surface, tapping into the reservoir of what I wish you knew about this group of individuals producing your campus news.
They write breaking news stories between classes, but more often during lectures. They roam Atherton in a herculean — if not stalkerish — “Hail Mary” effort to track down additional sources. They spend hours working on page designs based off what you, the reader, might like to see most.
To our readers: thank you for being the reason behind every late night in the office. Thank you to all of the editors and reporters who make the late nights bearable. Finally, thank you to our advisor, Dr. Tatsiana Karaliova, for the encouragement, snacks and for all of the feedback you provide on a weekly basis.
We don’t always get it right. But I echo what the previous editor-in-chief Alexis Price wrote in her letter last year: “We hope with each new change we can be that much better for our readers.”
Already we are in a transition mode, preparing for the next academic year in order to best serve our readers. But so many of the things above that make our paper what it is will carry on.
Such as it is, I find there is little for me to do but to finally graduate and perhaps even eat cake.
Sincerely,
Dana Lee
