On the first day of classes in the fall of 2022, I walked all about the Wichita State campus. It was my first day as a Wichita State student and all I knew was that I wanted to try and join a club or student organization that specialized in writing of some kind. Strangers and fingers directed me to the Elliott School of Communication, where the university’s newspaper, The Sunflower, was sitting in the basement level.

I entered the newsroom in hopes of finding something to improve my writing skills and develop my core interest at the time. What followed was two years doing the thing I loved most, writing, but now for The Sunflower. I worked in the opinion section of the paper, writing reviews (album reviews for the most part) and even a few personal columns here and there. 

With the conclusion of my second year at the university, my interests have shifted, and I am announcing my departure from The Sunflower. It has been a fun ride, full of personal experience, growth, and promise. To go with that, I would like to explain what about The Sunflower that has made it so fulfilling to be a part of. 

All the people at The Sunflower that I’ve met have been fun and engaging people to work with and be around. They are close with each other, and they use their friendships and strong work ethics to display a clear organization of all the sections of the newspaper, making The Sunflower as good as it can possibly be. They work around the clock to get stories written, reviewed, revised, edited and published at the next paper’s deadline. Photographers, illustrators and writers all take their own assignments about what they want to explore. Every week, I have taken an opinion story that I wanted to cover. It is one of the best parts of working for this paper: it is a student-run newspaper, and it has been run so well and so effectively that I do hate to part with the people here. 

However, I have enjoyed my time here, writing my articles, and reviewing and correcting them. I’m grateful for getting to talk to and know a little bit of people. I would like to thank The Sunflower as a whole for having me for all the good work they do!