I was just six days into my college career when I ventured to the Carolina Coliseum for 鈥�Student Organization Tour Session 6: Music, Performance & Fine Arts, Media & Publications.鈥�
COVID-19 pandemic precautions were still as strict as ever on that day in August 2020, and the Coliseum was being used for two things: a segmented student organization fair and COVID-19 testing.
The sixth organization fair session was what I really cared about 鈥� student media 鈥� and I remember leaving that night feeling like I had the opportunity to really make an impact in college.
These are the moments that I want to hold onto as I prepare to graduate college later this month.
Earlier this semester, I said the 2023 South Carolina football 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒 would be one to savor, especially for seniors like me, but I was wrong. I realized throughout the semester that I should take time to appreciate every aspect of my final semester of college 鈥� my own senior 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒.
The Gamecocks went just 5-7 on the football field, but I was still able to take in the 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒 in ways I had never done before. I made my first trip to the Cockpit in September, and I even covered a game for 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒 in November.
But the times I will always cherish the most are the ones spent in student media.
I leave college with seven semesters of experience in Garnet Media Group as a leader in both 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒 and SGTV, and it feels weird to think that my late nights in the Russell House and the Kennedy Greenhouse Studio are numbered.
I find myself staring off into space recently thinking about the long hours spent producing and the for SGTV, or working deep into the night to finalize one of 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒鈥檚 print editions for this year.
I reminisce about working with two of my best friends to bring back one of SGTV's most popular shows, as a sophomore and helping to rework into a full-length newscast as a senior.
I remember the weighty feeling of taking on the role of senior copy editor for 麻豆小蝌蚪传媒 heading into my junior year 鈥� just a few weeks after I decided to join the century-old newspaper.
Those experiences feel long and tireless in the moment, but I don鈥檛 think I could ever wrap my head around how much they mean looking back. It was time spent around the best friends I made in college and time spent honing my craft as a journalist.
I worried for three years that I wasn鈥檛 鈥渄oing college right鈥� because I was never the biggest partier and preferred to stay in watching TV or editing content.
But as I head off into the real world, I know there is no one right way to do college. I鈥檓 proud of what I have accomplished as a student and as a student journalist.
These are the days I will remember in five, 10 or 15 years and hopefully say that this was the beginning of something great.