The newsroom is empty. I have spent many days and nights in the basement of Johnston. Some would say the Wire staff and I live down there. But the Tribune has been sent to the printer and everyone has gone home. MUTV has filmed its last shows and videos of the year. Marquette Radio is going off the air for the summer. The Journal is done. There is nothing left for me to do.
A year ago I stood in the same spot. I stared at the white board that read, “That’s All Folks.” This signified the start of my term as executive director of the Marquette Wire and beginning of a year from hell that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
Student media has been my home for four years. That family mentality has always been part of student media no matter what branch anyone grew up in or even before the Wire was born in January of 2014. For me, I was a writer. I was hired as sports blogger for the Journal in the fall of 2012. From there I moved to the Tribune where I found my niche on campus.
The Tribune “officially” hired me for spring 2013 when I became the infamous unpaid stringer who everyone knew by name but never met. During my sophomore year when I finally met everyone, I was welcomed with open arms. I attended the Tribune’s twice-a-week late nights to get to know the staff.
That is where I found my love for everyone in student media. I met leaders like Tessa Fox, Sarah Hauer, Pat Leary, Jacob Born, Rob Gebelhoff, Becca Rebholz, the Joe Kaiser and many others whom I looked up to and still look up to today. I met incredible friends like Claire Nowak, Matt Kulling, Claudia Brokish, Natalie Wickman, Amy Elliot-Meisel and too many more people than I have space to thank. All of these people comprised the early Tribune and my wolf pack only grew once the Wire came to be.
This camaraderie and family that I found with the Tribune was evident in every student media platform. Radio was a family. MUTV was a family. The Journal when it had a staff was a family. This year we brought these families together, each with their different traditions, production processes and mindsets. Needless to say, it was messy and problematic. There was tension and drama.
At the end of the day though, we came together. We bridged the gaps between these platforms to make the best content student media has ever seen. Even better, I got to meet more amazing people. Brian Georgeson who is the future of anything video related and the rest of the eccentric cast that make up MUTV. Laura Noviskis and the wild Marquette Radio staff that taught me about radio, for some reason trusted me with a show, and turned Marquette Radio into a content machine on the Wire. Even Becca Doyle who ran the newly formed online desk despite the injuries she suffered along the way.
For whatever reason, student media took me in nearly four years ago, and in a shocking turn of events, they put a 20-year-old with the maturity of an all-boys high schooler in charge of it. Yet no matter what the Wire embraced my oddities, weird emails that only I thought were funny and became the family I will never forget. For that, I cannot thank every single person on my staff enough for making my year as executive director one of the best years of my life. That’s saying a lot since I once had a grilled cheese with six types of cheese on it. That is not a typo.
My time is up. No longer can I enjoy the fun that is late night. No longer can I wander down to find a smiling face hanging out in the basement of Johnston Hall. No longer can I be a part of this incredible tradition. But never will I forget it. To those who will return next year and those who will be new next year, I wish you the best of luck. To those who are leaving or graduating, thank you for everything you’ve done for the Wire. And for anyone who viewed any work we did this year, thank you for supporting what we do.
For now though, I sit in the newsroom for the last time as a member of student media. I’ll never forget this place. All that’s left for me to do is look up at the board, smile, and write, “That’s All Folks.”