This article will be the last time I write for the Ionian Newspaper. I haven’t fully processed that yet. I graduate in 27 days. Everyone says not to take any second of college for granted because it goes by incredibly fast. I won’t say I agree with this, because personally, I have changed so much since starting at Iona, this spring semester was the only one that felt super quick.

In my freshmen year, when I first became a writer for the Ionian, it was a very stressful time of my life. My anxiety was skyrocketing and I felt so overwhelmed by the change and disruptions surrounding me. However, every single day my mom pushed me, and when I say every single day, I’m not exaggerating, to join the Ionian. It’s not like it didn’t interest me, I was just so shy and did not think my writing skills were good enough.

But thank god for my mother. She knew how much I loved writing and she never allowed me to downplay that skill of mine. This is my favorite thing that the Ionian has taught me. Before joining, I simply loved to write. Now, I am so proud of my writing and how much I love it. Unfortunately, I feel that writing has been forcefully turned into a chore for many people due to school. And I feel so bad, because not everyone is able to experience the magic of writing for fun.

The Ionian has not only strengthened my writing schools, but I’ve learned so much about the structural aspects of creating a newspaper, which I don’t think I realized how special this knowledge was until having the opportunity of being the Co-Editor-in-Chief.

This four-year journey has been challenging yet filled with wisdom and pride. Being part of this newspaper has connected me to this campus community in a beautiful way. I’m especially thankful for the groups of people I’ve met since joining.

Thank you to past Editor-in-Chiefs who guided me and created such a fun, safe and creative environment: Joe, Niomi, Brandon, Luis, Robert, and Connor. Also, a second shout-out to Niomi for sitting next to me in MSC 377 and practically recruiting me to be the social media manager in my sophomore year, which was another extremely stressful time in my life. But then once again, the Ionian was such a comfort source for me where I was able to dive deep into my creativity.

Thank you to the current Ionian Editorial Board for all their extremely hard work and  creative minds : Michael (Co-Editor in Chief), Jack A. (News), Jake (Arts & Entertainment), Laura (Features & Lifestyle), Hailey (Features & Lifestyle), Alex (Sports), Laila (Social Media), Jack S. (Graphic Design: Canva) Fern ( Graphic Design: Photoshop). I would be lost without you guys!! I am so proud of what we’ve made here.

Lastly, thank you to all of you who have read my articles. I hope you enjoyed them, because gosh did I love writing them.