It’s hard to distill all that I’ve gleaned from my time at The Northerner into a short column. I could rattle off pages worth of identity-shaping takeaways. But if my time at The Northerner has given me anything, it’s experience that speaks for itself—even when self-doubt chokes back self-advocacy. 

Unending questions of whether I have the social battery to be a career journalist, whether I’m a good enough writer to stand out, or if I’m smart enough to understand and unpack complex and important topics have followed me throughout my three years as a journalism student (fun fact: I spent my first year in college as an English education major). 

While those questions certainly don’t come to an end with graduation—if anything they’re intensifying—my time at The Northerner has given me the portfolio and experiences that serve as proof that I am, indeed, good enough. 

The student paper has opened doors for me that I am very grateful for. I give my thanks to everyone I had the privilege of working with and getting to know while I was here. Counterparts like Braden, Mildred and Emily made doing this work a blast and showed me the importance of collaboration in producing good journalism. 

Our faculty advisor Michele Day encouraged me to chase stories, refine my writing and how to make a deadline through her involved approach to teaching and advising. By prodding us to tackle the tough stories, Michele has instilled a degree of news judgment and timeliness that I likely wouldn’t have developed had she not been wisely looming over the shoulders of the editorial staff, coaxing us to get on it. As far as honing my writing, I got into journalism because I loved writing about music. If you’ve ever read music journalism, you probably have noticed how wordy and high-sounding it can be. Admittedly, I’m highly influenced by this style of writing and needed some training to learn it’s okay to cut the big words sometimes. I owe my thanks to Michele for hammering that into me.

Dr. Steve Bien-Aime, who is no longer at NKU, was my professor in my first upper-level JOU course. He led stimulating class discussions that challenged me to think about sensitivity and ethics in writing, reporting and editing. Discussions in his class still echo fondly in my memory and serve as touchstones for maneuvering through quandaries. He was also complicit in getting me involved with The Northerner by urging me to take a story I wrote in his class to the paper. His words of encouragement and thought-provoking teaching style were invaluable to me as a young student and journalist.

Harking back to my peers here at The Northerner, I must say that one thing I’ve always appreciated is the parity of everyone involved in the organization. Sure, there are editors and staff members who make the operation function, but at the end of the day, we’re all students who are learning and making mistakes. It has always felt like we’re all on the same tier and have something to learn from each other, which is something I’ve come to treasure about working in student media. It has helped me feel comfortable taking risks and trying new things with my stories. 

All in all, I feel an immense sense of gratitude for The Northerner. We’ve done so much work to tell the stories and share the information that our campus deserves. Over the last few years, this staff has followed in the footsteps of the generations that came before us—those generations who did the back-breaking work of exalting The Northerner as an indispensable pillar of the NKU community through credible and hard-hitting content. It’s been an honor to not just continue this legacy but to help expand it for upcoming generations of students. 

To all the NKU community members who value the work we do, thank you for the staunch support. I believe I speak for the organization when I say we believe that the presence of a free press is key to ensuring the well-being of any community. We have taken that responsibility seriously in the time that I’ve been here, and I have no doubt that the devotion to upholding this responsibility will persist under future leadership. We are honored to be just one piece of this thriving NKU community. 

And to future members of The Northerner, please recognize the value of the work you do and the tangible impact it can have. 

Cheers!