As my time at Marshall and the Parthenon winds to a conclusion, I cannot help but feel like I was just getting started. At the same time, I am ready for the next step of my life’s journey.  

I will always think back fondly on the two years that I spent at the Parthenon; it has been a fruitful experience in my journey. The experience was also an unanticipated one. As a sports broadcast major, I was not focused on writing, foraying solely in the radio realm.   

Going into the fall of 2019, I had no plans of getting involved with the Parthenon. It was not until the first day of class when I realized that one of my classes was not what I thought it would be.   

Looking for a new class, I spoke to a couple of friends who were taking a beat reporting class. There was one spot left, and I took it. It was not until after I was enrolled in the course that I looked to see who the professor was; it was Charlie Bowen, the professor who a year prior had taught me how to write as a journalist in my first reporting class.  

I went from not even knowing about the class to it being the class I was most excited about. I had one of my favorite professors, and I was going to be covering Marshall sports. I cannot thank Charlie enough for setting me on the path to becoming the writer I am and the writer I will be in the future as I continue to improve.   

I should also thank him for encouraging me to apply for the assistant editor position. If it were not for his instigation, I would not be writing this farewell. My natural disposition of shying away from responsibility due to timidness and low self-confidence was upended with his support for the position.   

If it was not for Charlie, I do not know if I would have taken the leap of faith to bet on myself and lead from a place of confidence in my abilities, not just for the assistant sports editor position but for life in general.   

Taking on the role of assistant sports editor would also not have been possible without the guidance and inspiration of two other people: Sydney Shelton and Taylor Huddleston, my sports editor and assistant sports editor, respectively. They showed me the ropes in covering sports as a print journalist — the protocols, the techniques, the unspoken rules.   

The Parthenon sports staff was its own little family within the larger Parthenon family in the fall of 2019. Sydney and Taylor had to wrangle not only me but Mike Dotson and Brigham Warf as well. We are a fierce team, covering almost every sport throughout the semester, from women’s golf to football.  

If it were not for Sydney and Taylor, I would not have known the responsibilities of the two positions I would later have.  With Sydney, Mike and Brigham moving on, it was just Taylor and me left. She got the sports editor position and I the assistant sports editor position. The family got smaller, but it was still alive.   

Spencer DuPuis and Stormy Randazzo joined the family shortly thereafter to be our reporters for the spring semester, and I was now showing them the ropes as Sydney and Taylor had done for me.   

When COVID-19 rocked the country, Taylor and I made it work. In the fall of 2020, with no reporters to work with, Taylor’s even-keeled and dedicated demeanor kept us afloat.  If it were not for Taylor, I would not have been confident that everything would come together every week as it did.   

When Taylor graduated, it was my turn to carry on the legacy as best as I could, but it would be a lonely sports staff compared to what I experienced in the fall of 2019 when there were five of us. It was down to just me a year a half later, but the confidence instilled in me by my executive editor Brittany Hively and Parthenon supervisor Sandy York gave me the sureness that I could pull it off.   

If it were not for Brittany and Sandy, I would not have been as comfortable as I became with my situation.  

Luckily, I got a reporter, Noah Hickman, to help me cover the multitude of sports happening in the spring. If it was not for Noah, I would not have been able to cover as much of the packed sports schedule, nor would I have appropriately filled the sports pages.   

As I wrap up designing my final edition of the sports pages, I am struck by how much I will miss the routine and the constant drive for improvement that designing pages gave me. I am not artistically inclined or graphic design-oriented, so I loved the opportunity to improve a skill that I did not have any prior proclivity.  

If it were not for Sandy, I would not have challenged myself to design a page with more care, focus and intensity.   

Hopefully, my last designs are my best, and who knows, maybe I will be able to apply what I have learned in design at a later point in my journey.   

With this rewarding segment of my journey ending, I cannot help but draw influence from my favorite show Game of Thrones for a final attempt at a clever kicker.   

Much like Jon Snow, my watch has ended.