I hardly recognize The Parthenon these days, but, to be honest, that’s a really good thing.
When I joined the paper back in the Spring 2022 Semester, we didn’t have QR codes in the print or weekly columns like “Couples on Campus.” We didn’t have a website that updates with new stories every day, and, in fact, you couldn’t even access most of the art stories because they didn’t appear on the homepage or even in any of the menus.
All we had was a staff about half the size of our team now and one copy editor for the entire paper: me, a freshman without a journalism major or any prior journalistic experience.
Now, none of those statements are true. More than that, I’ve helped develop systems and practices to keep those statements from ever being true again. However, I can’t take even half the credit for The Parthenon’s metamorphosis over the past three years.
Sure, I fixed the website’s layout, and I edit at least half of the stories we publish every week. I wouldn’t be able to do any of those things, though, if not for the incredible journalists who welcomed me into this wild and wonderful world of theirs.
Former Executive Editor Tyler “Old Red” Spence took a chance on me by giving me my job in the first place. He taught me how The Parthenon works, what it means to be a good editor as well as the motto of “get caught trying,” a mantra I’ll hold onto even beyond the newsroom.
Faculty adviser Charlie “Old Man” Bowen, meanwhile, taught me almost everything I know about journalism and its craft. It is because of him and his weekly “Pep Talk” emails that I’ve been able to rewrite topical leads and restructure entire stories, so that all the best stuff is in the first ten words of every paragraph.
Charlie isn’t our only adviser, however. Even while she was imprisoned in the big office as interim director of the Journalism School, faculty adviser Sandy York has helped hold The Parthenon together as both an organization and, when the newsroom became a little too tense, a family. Without her, I don’t know where we’d be; although, I suspect that somewhere is probably some place without pay since Sandy handles all those logistics for us.
Most of The Parthenon’s progress, though, I must attribute to the journalists I am lucky to call not just my coworkers, but my second family. I have edited the work of every editor on staff this semester at one point or another. For most of them, this was before they even became editors.
It has been one of the greatest privileges of my college experience to watch each of them grow into the journalists they are today.
Sarah Davis won my admiration with the very first story she wrote, but not because that story was perfect. Instead, she earned my respect when she saw the nearly 100 corrections I’d made to her story and learned from them faster than any other reporter I’ve edited over the years. It is an honor to have played even a small part in Sarah becoming not just our managing editor this semester, but a journalist this paper is lucky to have.
Kaitlyn Fleming similarly made quite the splash in her first semester. I remember when she asked to start the “Couples on Campus” series for Valentine’s Day this past spring. Now, she’s grown into an opinions & culture editor who touches my heart every week with more than just love stories. I cannot wait to continue reading her insightful and timely opinion pieces and newswriting as she continues in her journalistic career.
Joseph Vito DiCristofaro has also come a long way, albeit in a different sense. It’s been over a year since he was writing stories about art galleries and having his last name misspelled in every print. He’s graduating this semester, and I have every confidence that he will end up exactly where he is meant to be — just like he did when he left the art stories behind and became our sports editor.
As for Abigail Cutlip and Wade Sullivan, they have both evolved from simple photographers into people I credit for having completely revitalized how our paper, website and social media look. Wade had large shoes to fill by taking up Abigail’s mantle as photos & graphics editor this semester, but his cinematic photography has raised the bar for how our photos can look. Abigail, meanwhile, will leave even larger shoes for the next social media manager to fill as she graduates this semester, and I hope she’ll walk across that stage with her head held high after having made our Instagram into something I genuinely enjoy scrolling through.
Scott Price and Baylee Parsons, though, will always have a special place in my heart as fellow and former members of the copy desk – or the House of Copy, as we like to call ourselves. I cannot thank Scott enough for helping me keep my job back in the Spring 2023 Semester, and I am so proud to call him my protege and our chief copy editor. As for Baylee, despite how she broke my heart when she left the House of Copy to become our news editor, she has inspired me every day this semester with her leadership and problem solving skills. I truly see those two as my successors, and I can think of no one I’d trust more to take care of this world I’m leaving behind.
I have, however, saved my most important acknowledgement for last – a flagrant violation of the inverted pyramid, I know. It is just that I could write another 1,000 words exclusively for Executive Editor Evan Green, who has been with me since we started at The Parthenon together back in our freshman year. I would not have even applied to the paper had I not started reading the print over his shoulder while we ate lunch. He inspired me then, and he continues to inspire me every day: in the newsroom, at the gym, on the kickball field, in life. We came to The Parthenon together, so it’s only fitting that we leave it all behind together too.
With all that said, to all of my fellow editors and the rest of the staff I haven’t mentioned, you will know how rarely I say this, but I truly am so impressed with you all. I am so proud of what you’ve done, and I cannot wait to read and hear and watch what you do next. Thank you for making our newsroom feel like a home, for welcoming this non-journalism major from Virginia Beach into your world.
To my previous fellow editors and all the previous reporters I’ve edited whom I couldn’t fit into this farewell, I’ve missed you. I’ve missed nearly crying from laughing so hard with you and watching you try to fit through the newsroom stool, and I cannot wait to join you in that better place that those of us still in the newsroom like to joke that all retired editors go when they’re gone.
To The Parthenon audience, thank you so much for reading. Remember to check your sources. Feel free to write to us if you want to submit a letter to the editor, whoever that’ll be next semester. Also, never forget: The Parthenon is the one of the best ways to stay informed on campus.
Rafael Alfonso can be contacted at [email protected].
