The last time I went ski­ing during my college tenure, it was early January 2015. The Saturday before classes began. I had limited service and had put my phone away, a blissful break from my hectic life as the incom­ing editor-in-chief of The Daily Evergreen.

Around 3 p.m. I took my phone out of my pack to check for messages, an innocuous enough activity.

But I had around 90 texts and dozens of missed calls from my adviser and my staff, and so many Facebook messages I could barely scroll through them. Sitting on the chairlift and scrolling through my feed, I learned what had happened: There had been a mass shooting in Moscow.

I spend the next 40 minutes trying frantically to coordinate coverage with my brand-new staff from afar. It was snowing and by the end, I couldn’t feel my hand.

That’s the story of the time I coordinated murder coverage from a chairlift, and it was the beginning of the most valuable semester of my life – as editor-in-chief of The Daily Evergreen.

I started my journey in Student Media as a freshman brand-new to campus as a new reporter, very intimidated by the newsroom.

I was news editor for three semesters. The following semes­ter, I became managing editor under a great friend and editor-in-chief, Nathan. And then it was my turn.

As Dickens would say, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I had some of my hap­piest memories from college dur­ing that semester, and faced my biggest hurdles.

How do you deal with a sex­ist employee? What do you do when you don’t get the financial support necessary to stay afloat in the long term? What do you do when someone attempts to blackmail you into running sto­ries they want?

I learned so much and grew so much from that semester. I’ve always been a fairly non-assertive, sensitive person, and this job forced me to grow a backbone, toughen up, and stand up for what I believed in. I can’t thank the Office of Student Media enough for that.

I became the assistant edi­tor for the Visitors Guide Magazine in its inaugural year, and launched two series of col­umns – one on mental health and wellbeing, and one called Sports for Dummies, for which I later received a regional award in sports column writing.

Then my final semester came and I found myself with a new challenge as manager of the Web & Mobile department. I didn’t ever plan on it, but when the circumstances landed me in it, I loved it. I grew the staff and launched the Mandarin language podcasts, and the long-term projects my staff has started will go on long after I leave.

One of the greatest things about the Evergreen is watch­ing those who come after you. Not every editor-in-chief is lucky enough to look at the people who had her job after her and say “Wow, they did a better job than I did.” Dustin, who followed me as editor-in-chief, and Hannah, the current editor-in-chief, blew me away with their poise and dedica­tion. I am so proud of them, and humbled to have had any roll in their rise to editorial power.

I am fortunate to have amaz­ing mentors in my time at WSU, including Candace Baltz, the Office of Student Media’s former director, who was a friend, con­fidant, critic, personal trainer, and cheerleader. I don’t know who or where I would be without Candace. She helped me grow so much as a person and as a jour­nalist.

I don’t know what my life would be if I hadn’t found the Office of Student Media, and been involved in all the amazing opportunities provided to me here and in the rest of the Murrow College. I have had an incredible 4 years at WSU. My eyes are filling with tears as I try to think of a way to express how much I’m going to miss it.

So in my final remarks to ever publish in The Daily Evergreen, I want to extend a heartfelt thank-you to all my employers, employees, mentors, friends, and associ­ates. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without you.

Now, as a wonderful and wise woman once told me, go be awesome.