Farewell Column: You may not know me, but I know you

Farewell+Column%3A+You+may+not+know+me%2C+but+I+know+you

As a first-year student on campus, joining The Sunflower staff was the best decision I could have made.

Despite being on staff since August of 2022 and spending almost every Wednesday night of my year in the basement of Elliott Hall, my name is featured only a handful of times in the paper. When scrolling through the staff page on The Sunflower website, if that’s something you do for some reason, my page is blank.

So how did I end up writing a column in the graduation issue of the paper, as a non-graduate? Believe me, I have no idea either. My role on the staff is simply to put the words on the pages.

By that, I mean literally taking the stories and putting them into an InDesign file that will eventually print and become the newspaper. It is hard-hitting journalism at its finest. I’m essentially a hired-on middle child between the editors, reporters and photographers.

My roles on staff extend far beyond my Adobe Suite skills, though. I also take up the position of storyteller, interior designer, DJ, and a world-class over-sharer of all personal experiences. Whether I’m at production night until 6 p.m. or 11:45 p.m., staff members will be treated to an evening of distractions and a slew of random facts that they’re not interested in hearing.

I do still take my job very seriously, don’t be confused. My time on staff has been nothing but informational and truly eye-opening to the field of journalism.

I started at the paper with zero knowledge about sports but have since learned what a free-throw line is, why it’s called a deuce in tennis, and even who Kevin Saal is. This is information I will carry with me throughout my life.

All jokes aside, I do truly believe joining The Sunflower staff was the best decision of my academic year. I was introduced to people I would have never met otherwise, and who have become the dearest friends to me.

I stepped completely out of my comfort zone by applying. What could have been a missed opportunity, became a job that led me closer to my goals.

So, as my time at Wichita State and The Sunflower comes to an abrupt end, my memories here will remain a colorful place to return to.

I want to give a massive thank you to the editors who trusted me with an entire issue while they were out of town, and the writers who put up with me changing their headlines because “it’s just a little too long.”

As the semester ends, I am left wondering if maybe the real sunflower was the friends we made along the way.