As I sit on my front porch writing this letter, I am filled with a deep sense of sadness and impending emptiness. The bright spring weather doesn’t reflect what it feels like to have to say goodbye to a friend that has greatly contributed to molding me into the person I am today. That friend is The Globe.

I started at The Globe nearly three years ago. As a newly transferred student, I didn’t know anyone here. As someone who had a rocky friendship or two at my previous university, I put up a wall and kept my distance. I didn’t live on campus and didn’t make the effort to reach out to meet new people here. But The Globe was different.

As I became an editor and spent countless hours with the staff that put together this incredible product each week, that wall slowly began to chip away. Working so intensely and with such dedication next to these talented journalists, I couldn’t help but want to build relationships here.

And as I stepped into the roles of Editor-Elect and Editor-in-Chief, it became essential.

It hasn’t been a secret that the staff here has been working hard to cover controversial stories on this campus – in fact, it’s in our job description as journalists to do so. The Globe has received a lot of backlash for calling out the shortcomings of others in our paper every week.

And as the head of this organization, I felt the need to defend not just my writers – but my comrades. These reporters work tirelessly week after week to bring news on our campus to a critical audience. I will not stand for their work to be put down by those that do not care to understand our process.

It is common for journalism students to hear that the careers they are entering into are “thankless jobs.” That addadge rings true now more than ever in the era of “fake news” and a general public mistrust of the media. We are certainly learning and understanding that as students producing news for a campus audience.

I’ve learned that the work we do here isn’t alway going to be appreciated – and that’s okay. But if I didn’t at least try to build my staff up with my own appreciation and defense, I wouldn’t have been happy with my tenure as Editor-in-Chief and I wouldn’t be happy with myself as a human being.

If you take one thing away from this farewell letter and my time leading The Globe, I hope it is this: remember that journalists are people too. We are your friends, your neighbors and fellow students. We strive to bring you the truth because we care that you are informed citizens.

The Globe has been a trusted friend through my time here at Point Park. The staff here broke down my wall and let me into their lives as a trusted companion. I could never return the favor of the amount of hard work they put in to create the best product week after week, but I certainly tried.

I’ll leave you all with what has essentially become my mantra: we are not in the business of making people happy. We are in the business of relaying truth to our audience – a daunting sacrifice we make for the sake of democracy.