An Improbable Senior Column 

For this column, I was racking my already tired out brain on what I should write about. For four years The Daily Campus has been a whirlwind of faces, memories and Slack messages — not easily condensed into one 750-word article. When I asked other seniors what they were doing for this column, a lot said they were starting off with how they got to the DC, and that’s about as good a start as any.  

I came to the University of Connecticut in August of 2020. I’ll be honest, it was rough. I was an undecided major, and with strict pandemic restrictions, it was hard to have the “normal college experience” — whatever that means. I didn’t meet anyone else on campus except for the occasional Jackbox party game with people I would never see again.  

I remember one evening I was scrolling on Instagram (which was most nights during the pandemic), and I saw a flashy post with people crowded along Fairfield Way (like you’d see in movies about college). The post was from UConn Student Activities advertising their Fall Involvement Fair to happen later that week. I was ecstatic, until I read the fine print and “virtual” was plastered nearly everywhere. In retrospect, I should’ve known better.  

I eventually decided that I was quite literally doing nothing the day of the “virtual involvement fair,” and I might as well give it a chance. The format was certainly its own brand of “2020 interesting.” I waited awkwardly in zoom breakout rooms for nearly 3 hours to talk to club presidents and executives, also sitting behind their laptops against the backdrop of childhood bedrooms. I remember talking to 10 or so clubs, but every one of them had the same caveat, “when the pandemic is over we’ll do this” or “before the pandemic we did this.” It certainly wasn’t encouraging. Then in my last or second to last foray in trying to find a community, I joined the waiting room for the Daily Campus. Three people appeared on my screen; the editor-in-chief (what’s that?), the news editor (that makes more sense), and a third person that I apologize for not remembering.  

They gave me the usual DC pitch, the one memorized by hundreds of Daily Campus employees old and new, but the thing that really hooked me was a phrase that probably seems innocuous today: “Meetings happen weekly on Sundays, you should come.” I was sold. I wish I could say I joined the DC for aspirational reasons, or because I wanted to become a better writer, or even because I wanted to report on issues important to students, but in all honesty, I just wanted somewhere to be every Sunday.  

As time went on I learned the hard lessons of the trade; like never use an oxford comma or always write September as “Sept.” During my sophomore year, the then news editor stepped down to take an internship and I got the opportunity to become an editor for the News section, something I never really desired but more or less fell into.  

As an editor for the past two and a half years, I’ve had the ability to see this organization grow from the brink. From a news section in the midst of a pandemic with only three writers (shout-out to Dylan, Aiza and Hallie), to producing more than three articles a day, I never cease to be inspired by the writers in this section that work towards and achieve making this university a better place. I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with multitudes of wonderful people, not only in news (of which there are so many), but across all of the different sections. It may seem cliché, but the amount of passion and drive that goes into creating this paper every single day is motivating. I’ve met people I consider good friends and have spent countless Sundays at the DC to deliver the news to the student body.  

In final reflection, I think that my time at the DC and my time more generally at UConn has been anything but likely. I had no more than a passive interest in journalism prior to coming to UConn, and I still have yet to step into a journalism classroom (I guess that window has closed), but despite that I’ve found myself somehow, improbably, the leader of two newsrooms on campus.  

While I’ll be moving on to graduate school next fall, I want to thank all of my wonderful co-workers, family, friends and companions for making this one of the best experiences of my life. At the end of the day, this paper is just a piece of paper, meant to be thrown out and discarded. It’s the contribution of every amazing student, working together with kindness, curiosity and drive, that makes this organization what it is. I can’t wait to read what happens next.