It’s not cliché to say that I’ve grown a ton since I first arrived at the Northern Star, in part because the Northern Star has been a part of my life since I was 15 years old.

I first walked into the Northern Star offices in between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. My mom signed me up for a summer journalism camp where I spent a week in DeKalb working at the Star. It’s in that summer week when I first met the Northern Star adviser Shelley Hendricks and when I first realized that NIU was where I wanted to go to college.

Even after my family moved to Georgia after I graduated from high school, I stayed in Illinois for one reason: to go to NIU and work at the Star. 

The first thing I did after freshman orientation was go straight to the Star office and fill out an application. Four and a half years later, the Northern Star still represents something for me that I hope it continues to represent for others coming to NIU. It’s a stomping ground for journalists to learn, develop and foster a passion for journalism.

Imagining my college experience without the Star is practically impossible. I got to interview Rev. Jesse Jackson in my first year. My work got me connected with amazing people at the Northern Television Center. I got to live the dream of my 12-year-old self and be a reporter on college football games in Detroit and Atlanta.

No matter where it takes me, my journey through journalism will always lead back to NIU and the Northern Star.

Thank you to the students, athletes and coaches who let me peek into their lives and tell their stories. Additionally, thank you to the communications staff at NIU that has helped put me in the places I needed to be to tell those stories.

Thank you to all the people I got to work closely with at the Star, especially this semester’s editorial board, for providing me the sense of community I needed after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered all of us away from the people we cared about.

Thank you to Shelley Hendricks and Maria Krull for being not just in my corner, but also in the corner of all the students who come through the Star, patching us up on the rough days and giving us the game plan to attack what comes next.

To my family, friends and anyone in between that has taken the time to tell me they liked my article, thank you. I’ll get to work on more soon.