The Final Coleumn: It is okay to not be perfect; Cole Stefan’s self-reflection and sentimental farewell 

Greetings, dear reader. 

Allow me, Cole Patrick Stefan, to take you on an intense journey back in time. You might want to buckle up. 

There were no live sports going on at the University of Connecticut because of the COVID-19 pandemic back in the fall of 2020. Each of the professional sports leagues was in action at the time, whether in their regular season or the playoffs. Unlike most years during which there are collegiate athletics to cover from the first day of the fall semester. However, things just felt different. 

How does someone like me, who found out about this organization through a virtual involvement fair, attempt to make an immediate impact? Simple: write about what they know. The first-ever article with my name on it was about a no-hitter from pitcher Alec Mills. Mills, then a member of the Chicago Cubs, most recently made eight appearances across 2022 and 2023. 

That is how it all began. An approximately 850-word article was the debut single of four albums of “Coleumns,” “ Big East Baller Updates” and coverage of six different sports programs at UConn. 

I wrote for my high school’s newspaper, The Forum, from 2016 until 2020 while balancing my participation in track and choir. Never in my wildest dreams back then did I imagine that my passion for writing would lead to covering two Final Fours, a bowl game and two Big East Media Days. There was no way that I could see myself providing my wild takes in almost every roundtable over four years or writing an entire point-counterpoint when I joined as a freshman. 

Yet across all 362 articles I have written — the most ever on The Daily Campus’ current website — there is one message that I feel has been my guiding light. I did not realize it until very recently — then again, I cannot recall how it came about — but I wish I knew about it much sooner. 

Your work does not have to be perfect all of the time. 

From the countless hours in the Homer Babbidge Library to the weeknights spent in basketball arenas fine-tuning UConn women’s basketball recaps, I put maximum effort into each article that I wrote. No matter where I produced it, my expectations were the same. The final published product, a 1,000-word article, is just the fruit of my labor.  

But the more one works on something, the more it may become “technologically advanced.” There is such a thing as overworking. Engaging in this behavior is a symptom of overthinking each and every minuscule detail. It can hold your confidence in your abilities to do something back and stunt your overall growth in that skill. It is very time-consuming and may prevent one from being succinct with their words. 

There is a solution to the pressure of perfection: Recognizing when you have done enough with something goes a long way, even if it is not perfect by one’s individual standards. One mistake in one piece of work is not going to make or break you individually. Do not let something that is commonly hard to attain wreck what you are trying to create. 

Allowing yourself to fall short of perfection while still putting in maximum effort has its benefits. Letting go when you have finished something is all part of the plan. Through this action, you accept that you are, respectfully, far from perfect. Writing, let alone doing anything, in college allows you to get better. 

Being in college and improving my craft in a university setting is just the prologue of a decades-long professional odyssey. It is also where I met some incredible individuals that I want to recognize. Without them, I would not be where I am as a writer today. 

Thank you to Danny Barletta and Conner Gilson, the second and third editors I ever met after the then-editor-in-chief at the involvement fair. You both welcomed me into The Daily Campus sports section family and allowed me to fine-tune my writer’s craft to the Associated Press style from the start.  

Thank you to Ashton Stansel, the only individual I covered three different sports teams with. Your wisdom and expertise in the industry really helped me when I first started covering sports teams as well as when I joined the UConn women’s basketball beat. 

Thank you to Jonathan Synott, a fearless sports editor through a significant transition period in my sophomore year. There are very few things I wish I had done during my time in the organization; covering a beat with you is one of them. 

Thank you to Stratton Stave, my superior for the past two years and the standard when it comes to writing quality articles. I will never forget all of the memories made covering UConn women’s basketball and UConn football, and I am forever in awe at how quickly you can produce a game recap. 

Thank you to Evan Rodriguez, someone I have seen grow as a hard-working person, a writer and a multimedia producer throughout their time in Storrs. No one has as much energy or enthusiasm for UConn athletics as you do. 

Thank you to anyone who has read my work over the past four years, from my parents to my grandmother to my friends and family. You are all the reason I continue to promote my intriguing articles on four different social media platforms. 

Lastly, to everyone else I have ever met through this fantastic organization, thank you so much for being my friend and contributing to this remarkable journey. I have questioned my decisions about what I am doing throughout my time in college. At the end of the day, though, I know that I made the right choice spending part of the last four years writing for The Daily Campus. 

What I am about to write for my final sentence in UConn’s student-run newspaper does not feel real. Nothing in my college experience has. 

For the last time, this has been first name Cole, last name Stefan.