So all of a sudden, it’s the middle of May and everything just went from ninety miles an hour to zero. Anyone who’s ever been to school knows that’s how summer break works, but it’s a different experience when the end of the semester is the end of a school career.

Working for The Criterion was one of the best experiences of my life, right up there with high school marching band. The two academic years I got to spend with the organization doesn’t feel like enough, but the family environment has been a constant inspiration.

When I came to Colorado Mesa University in the fall of 2015, I was a pretty nervous freshman who was reluctant to jump right in to anything without very thoroughly researching it first. Looking back, this likely hindered me from loving the college experience as early on as I could have.

If I wasn’t doing what I loved in college, I would have been questioning if I’d just been wasting money to attend.

One piece of wisdom that I’ve heard over and over again is College is about the experience. It’s about the groups you join and the experiences you have, or some variation of that. I thought that was so stupid and corny at first. “No…I’m here to get a degree. Duh!”

Man, I was wrong. It is about the experiences. Not to encourage the skipping of classes (those are important too), but eventually — especially in a degree like mass communication — the experience ends up being far more valuable. I’ll admit that I skipped a fair amount of classes this last semester to cover time-sensitive Criterion stories, such as the flooding of Tolman Hall.

The experiences are superior, and rising up to become the news editor was the best experience I’ve had in college, and possibly outside of college as well.

For all that experience, I am incredibly grateful to CMU, The Criterion, and everyone involved in the glorious university experience.

With that, to all I say goodbye and good luck with the future.