Dear NIU community,

It was never my intention to be so invested in student journalism, but after writing news for this community for two years, I’m glad that I did.

When I got here I expected to hate the smallness of DeKalb, but it turned out it made writing news here so much more fun.

When you write for a student newspaper, it’s easy to feel like no one is reading what you write. Not everyone is going to read every story. Add to this the fact that the audience for local news fluctuates with every story and it’s easy to wonder, why do this at all?

In a place like DeKalb where a few outlets compete for attention, how do you stand out?

Whether or not the Northern Star did stand out, there are many moments that have stood out to me. There is one in particular that I come back to often.

In the lead up to DeKalb’s mayoral election, there was a petition challenge to Linh Nguyen, one of the candidates running to be DeKalb’s mayor. We found out about it a little late, and that day I had a lot to do.

But, I went to the hearing, because I’m a political science nerd and that’s what political science nerds do (I think?).

Before the hearing, I ran into Alderman Tracy Smith and he aptly asked if I didn’t have anything better to do at 10 a.m. on a Thursday morning.

I did have better things to do (so much homework) but I appreciated the joke from one of the city’s elected officials who I hadn’t spoken to before that day but who had been seeing me all semester at City Council meetings.

I left the hearing and by the time I completed that day’s classes and work it was 8 p.m. I started writing the story and realized I didn’t get why her petition was being disputed.

Normally, we upload stories on the same day we cover an event, but I needed time and sleep. So, I asked my editors to wake up at 7 a.m. to edit my story, and they did (It was probably still an hour late. Thank you!).

I woke up at 4 a.m., read some obscure information about election laws and figured out what I was missing.

We published the story that morning. I wondered if it was worth waking up so early to explain an election issue to an audience that I wasn’t always sure was there.

Twelve days later, at the second hearing for the petition challenge, a woman from the League of Women Voters recognized me. She said she read my story and thanked me for writing it. She said I explained what was happening clearly and she was unable to find any articles that explained the issue as thoroughly as I did.

For me, that’s what makes it worth it. When you write good news, people will read.

People should have access to that kind of information and be able to understand and participate in the political process in their communities.

If I hadn’t written that story, the world would have gone on, yes.

But getting that feedback that day helped me push through many nights. There have been many moments like that one from members of this community that made all the work worth it. 

We’ve done so many exciting and important stories. Stories about professors being arrested, stories documenting the uncertainty facing our international and undocumented classmates, and so many more. 

For the past two years, I’ve had the great honor of writing news for this community. Now that it’s time for me to go out and see what the world has waiting for me, I’ll never forget the time I spent here.

To the community of DeKalbians and DeKalb area residents who have sent emails and even stopped to talk to me in the streets, thank you. It feels like I have talked to so many people in this community, yet still not enough.

Thank you to the DeKalb officials and NIU administrators who were on the receiving end of our relentless pursuit of information. We put you all through a lot, but it is part of the job, and signals that the professors and advisors at this university are empowering students to think and be active, educated members of their communities. That’s what this place is for, right?

Thank you to the incredible team of editors from last year and this year that never takes their foot off the gas.

Thank you to Editor-in-Chief Brynn Krug for giving me the opportunity to be a news editor and Managing Editor Sarah Rose for putting up with my off the wall moments as an editor. I know there were times I made both of your jobs harder. If the newsletter is going out at 10 a.m. I still don’t see a problem with publishing my stories at 9:30 (I’m so sorry for doing this). 

Thank you to this year’s team of editors for tolerating my sleep deprived moods and early morning editing sessions. To the entire staff, thank you for the newsroom shenanigans. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from an entire semester of you all yelling my name every time you heard police sirens.  

Thank you to Shelley Hendricks, our advisor, for fueling my curiosity, nerding out on political science with me and allowing me to push the limit. Thank you to Maria Krull for the conversations about whatever was the topic of the day and for the candy you always have ready to pass out to the Northern Star team.

Thank you to my professors, for teaching me how to think.

Thank you to the ladies at the gym down the street whose conversations sometimes turned into news leads, and to the early morning group always ready to talk politics, no matter how heated the conversations got.

Most of all, thank you to the news team that worked under me as news editor. It has been a busy semester and you have all come through for me in one way or another. I am forever grateful for the work you’ve put in to make this semester so memorable.

In whatever you do, always remember, we never settle for anything less than excellence.

So, one last time: Clap it up for yourselves, and go forth and do news things.

I don’t know what I’ll do next. I’ll try to be a data scientist, or maybe I’ll find a place to continue writing news. Whatever I do, I’ll take the tenacity and doggedness I acquired while writing for this paper with me. 

With that, I’m signing out.