Alas, another chapter in the crazy book of life came to a close last month as I graduated from Southern Illinois University with my degree in journalism. It really doesn't hit you until you walk across the stage and look out to a sea of your peers and some of your closest friends – you've made it.

Throughout my time at Southern, I have spent hundreds of hours within the four walls of our windowless newsroom surrounded by extremely bright colleagues and lifelong friends, whether at the Daily Egyptian or at River Region Evening Edition.

My monthly blog posts took a bit of a back-burner during my last semester of college while being the editor for our student newspaper, The Daily Egyptian. I also didn't get to shoot as much as I would have liked to but I wouldn't trade the experience of shaping and mentoring a hard-working staff for the world. Being a part of the publication’s 103-year-old legacy is something indescribable.

Working in student media gave me the opportunity to work in various roles in our newsroom from Director of Photography to Editor in Chief. During my last weeks at the paper, I made a bad habit of counting moments as “lasts.”

The last time I would have to fight with InDesign to get our files to save. The last time I would experience the warm smell of coffee dancing into the newsroom, fueling late nights and early mornings. The last time we would make deadline by the skin of our teeth. The last time I would trip on our old carpet. The last time we would get another piece of mail claiming we’re contributing to “the decline and death of the university.”

It would be a lie if I told you I was entirely prepared to take on the role as editor – I don’t think anyone truly is. It is a huge undertaking but it has provided me a valuable experience which I would have not been able to get otherwise. Learning how to think on your toes when things go awry, really digging roots into your community and building the trust to help tell their stories are a few things I really had the opportunity to experience.

While research for The Daily Egyptian "SIU 150" special issue, I found the student publication's original motto emblazoned on the masthead – "Fiat Lux." Latin for “let there be light," the motto resonated with me as I worked through the semester with our core founding mission in mind. Journalists are here to shine light on important issues within our communities – we are the watchdogs.

During my time at the Daily Egyptian, we’ve reported on social justice issues, improper university hires, mismanaged university money, a controversial academic restructuring, administrative policy, an athletics department running a cumulative deficit of over $40 million, the death of a chancellor and a system embroiled in a funding battle which ultimately led to the fall of a university president. We've also reported on things like pigs who bring entire towns together and incredible student-run theater shows.

Often time breaking stories before multiple regional and national publications, our coverage across the community has brought national recognition to the university from our stories and work gaining awards from the Illinois College Press Association, the Hearst Journalism Contests and the Associated Collegiate Press. This year, we won our second straight “Online Pacemaker” from the ACP – the award is often called the “Pulitzer Prize of Collegiate Journalism.”

I was also extremely blessed to be named a 2019 ProPublica Emerging Reporter this past semester. The opportunity provided me an immense amount of support and the resources to attend my first ever NICAR conference in California and led me to attend and present at the Chris Georges Conference on Collegiate Journalism at Harvard University in Massachusetts.

I wouldn't have been able to succeed this semester if it weren't for the folks at the SIU School of Journalism, the Daily Egyptian and ProPublica, including the four other emerging reporters (Brianna, Drew, Ethan and Jodie), program director Katie Zavadski and Melissa Sanchez, my program mentor from ProPublica Illinois. I can't speak enough to the work the folks at ProPublica are doing and their openness to help and provide helpful insight in navigating the journalism field.

My travels, with the help of ProPublica and the Nieman Foundation, took me to California for my first NICAR conference where I got to learn all about data, coding and journalism and then to Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Chris Georges Conference on Collegiate Journalism. I had the opportunity to present some of the investigative work we did at the Daily Egyptian and had the opportunity to learn about the fantastic work students across the country are doing – the future is bright for journalism.

As for my future, I don't know where the road will take me down the line but I'm excited to start a summer internship at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today. I'll be able to photograph and document my own community and there is something incredibly special about that. The staff at the Post-Dispatch are a big reason why I went into journalism and my passion for journalism wouldn't have been ignited if it weren't for their storytellers.

I will dearly miss southern Illinois’ rolling hills, streaming rivers and breathtaking forests. I’m going to miss early morning breakfasts at Sunny Street Diner with my friends. I’m going to miss lining the field with the Marching Salukis and hyping up the crowd for home football games. I’m going to miss the family which I’ve built throughout the last few years.

I wouldn’t be the same person if it weren’t for my experiences in Carbondale and at Southern Illinois University. While my work here is done, the Daily Egyptian staff is working on their next story.

I truly can't wait to see where the road takes me next.