After 95 stories written for The Butler Collegian, this one will be my last.
I’m not sure how to feel. On one hand, I’m excited to open a new chapter and move on from a place that has brought me so much joy, but also many … many tired nights. Conversely, this newspaper has been my home for the past four years and a part of my being now belongs to it.
Coming into college, I had no intention of working for a print publication. I wanted to call sporting events like my heroes Jim Nantz or Neil Sika, not write the words we all read every day on screens. After a few broadcast classes it became apparent that the television route was not my destination, vaulting me into an entirely new path that changed the trajectory of my life. That road led me to this newspaper.
Thank God for The Butler Collegian.
This publication taught me how to be a journalist. Sure, you can go to lectures and soak up the ins and outs of the news business, but you won’t learn as well as doing actual journalism every day. That practice is refined in the interviewing, writing and painstaking editing that happens in and around The Collegian office on the second floor of Fairbanks.
You don’t need me to tell you that though. This independent student-run newspaper has been around for 140 years now. Time speaks for itself. Throughout the 14 decades that The Butler Collegian has existed, there have been times of great triumph, moments of sadness, loads of grammatical edits caught and an incalculable amount of stories written by students.
I’ve been fortunate enough to author some of those stories. From meticulously thought-out features and column ramblings to quickly-published previews/recaps and stories that were hard to write, this place allowed me to do real journalism. For four years, my life revolved around telling those stories. I’d like to say I’m proud of how they turned out. Even though I’m simply a guy who writes about sports, I hope they made an impact.
That impact speaks for itself in the work that every Collegian employee puts their heart into, so I’m going to take these words I have left to talk about the people that made this place my home.
If not for this newspaper, I would never have the memories of the amazing people that have made Indianapolis a habitat for this kid from Columbus, Ohio. I’ll always remember talking with Eva Hallman about quitting at Collegian bootcamp during our first year, driving Matthew Crane out of his mind with the amount of soccer stories I tried to write and attending women’s soccer games with Alison Miccolis.
How could I forget the countless hours spent with my dear friend Sarah Hohman in the Hinkle Fieldhouse media section? Or trying to find a slice on our way to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament? In fact, if Sarah didn’t encourage me to apply to be an editor, I would not be writing this right now. I’m thankful she did, because I enjoyed the two years that followed covering the men’s basketball team with her … although the product on the court always made us question how much longer we could do it.
I will miss David Jacobs and Sawyer Goldwein bullying me because the Crew lost, Jada Gangazha putting me through deep breathing exercises to keep me sane, Anna Gritzenbach and Maddie Wood making me laugh constantly and all my non-journalism friends — Tanner, Noah, Nathan, Audrey, Braxton, Karin, Emma, Brogan, Chloe and all my friends back home — who listened to my endless rambling about Oxford commas and the ethical dangers of AI.
Most of all, I will miss our staff that showed up every single day to tell the stories on campus that students, faculty and alumni needed to know. A year ago, you all believed in me to lead you as editor-in-chief, and it has been the greatest honor of my life getting to work alongside you. I was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but you accepted me for all my flaws and still trusted me, which means more than any award I could receive.
All this in mind, it would suffice to say that without student journalists’ will to do impossibly hard work for crappy pay, campuses across the nation would be worse off.
So, thank God for The Butler Collegian.
From here on I’m not sure where I will end up, what job I will have, what state I will live in or where my life may lead, but I do know that The Collegian will be a part of me. This paper has made me feel every emotion from joy and happiness to anger and frustration, but I hope that shows how much I cared for the people and the work we did.
All that there is left to do now is say thank you.
Thank you to every member of the staff for supporting me over the last four years.
Thank you to many of you who became my best friends.
Thank you to others who were adversaries, for teaching me patience and persistence.
Thank you to Dr. Karaliova for your constant support of not only all of us as student journalists, but as people too.
Thank you to my family — Mom, Noah and Chloe — and friends for the outpouring of love and assistance as I navigated this chapter.
Finally, thank you God for The Butler Collegian.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7