Yesterday, I got the honor to once again host the semester Evergreen awards. As I stood in front of my staff, or as I like to call them, my Evergreen babies, I realized this was the last time I’d be speaking to them at the front of the conference room. 

That realization paired with an already emotional day had me in tears trying to celebrate my staff and all their accomplishments. So today, I’d like to share with you some of the highlights from this semester. 

If you look back to the past spring semester, almost our entire editorial staff graduated. This semester, we started off with section editors who did not have much editorial experience (aside from our opinion editor, Kestra). The first few weeks were a big learning curve; InDesign is really tedious to teach so I was not at all frustrated or irritated with them. 

Once we got through that hump, we had to work our way to growing our staff. Believe it or not, a newsroom needs to have reporters and photographers! Slowly but surely, we grew. 

We ran some of my favorite editions this semester: our Breast Cancer Awareness mini edition, our Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll special edition and our Halloween edition. These were all little dreams in my head, and without my Evergreen babies, none of those would have come true. 

And then, tragedy struck. The Evergreen had to cover a topic that we never really had to cover, nor did we have experience in. The homicides were some of the toughest articles and updates we’ve had to write. I sat through press conferences held by Moscow Police Department, and I had the honor to attend the vigil at University of Idaho. 

My staff busted their asses to get accurate information to the public, and though we weren’t working with a lot of information, we did the best we could. 

With everything happening in our community, not only were my reporters covering this for the Daily Evergreen, but some of my reporters were covering this for big news sources. We had reporters covering this for The New York Times, The Spokesman-Review and USA Today. Seeing my babies’ names in the bylines of those articles made me so proud. 

We experienced a lot this semester: joy, anxiety, heartbreak, excitement. There is no other staff I’d rather do this with. 

I have had the honor of holding the editor-in-chief position for three terms: spring, summer and fall. I do believe I have been one of the longest-standing EICs at the Evergreen. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to move on … this has been my home away from home. Like I mentioned earlier, I call my staff my Evergreen babies — they are not only my staff, they are my friends and they are basically my children. 

I remember when my opinion editor Kestra brought her boyfriend into the newsroom for the first time, and boy did I embarrass her. I lectured her about responsibility and all that jazz. 

I yelled at our deputy sports editor Trevor Junt about not wearing a coat when it was cold and snowy. I lectured Parker Schafer about celebrating Christmas after Thanksgiving. I knocked on the doors of some of my editors when I didn’t hear from them during a weekend. 

I never saw myself as someone’s boss. I saw myself as someone’s equal in journalism, someone’s friend, someone’s confidant, someone’s mom away from home (I am the oldest person in the newsroom, so it worked out well).

My time at the Daily Evergreen is one I will remember — when I’m old and senile and in a nursing home, I will still talk about all the stuff we accomplished. 

I struggle with my feelings a lot, you can ask my therapist. So the best way I can describe how I’m feeling is somber. I have cried at least 15 times already today, and I cried a lot yesterday. But I am optimistic for the future, and I know the Evergreen is in good hands. 

I don’t know what my plans are yet. Juggling school and work has always been a strong suit of mine, and I don’t know if I could ever actually leave the newsroom completely. I may return, but it’ll be some behind-the-scenes stuff. 

The Daily Evergreen will always have my heart. The dear readers of the Evergreen will always be in my mind. My dear staff will always have my support, no matter what. Frankie, Liam, Kestra, Alexandria, Sam, Mason, Cole, Trevor, Tessa, Josie, Anna, Carson, Michaela, Emma, Alex, Dorothy and Mikayla, I couldn’t have be more thankful for you all. You guys know how I feel about you, I won’t get into too much detail.

For the last time, with all my love,

Sandi Kobiesa