Hey everyone, readers and staff of the Captain’s Log alike, I still can’t believe that it’s the end of my time at The CLOG. I’ve been grateful for every moment since I arrived, proud of every issue put into circulation and have been forever changed for the better, through my work on this newspaper.
Just two years ago, I arrived at Christopher Newport University as a transfer student. A big goal I had at CNU was to be quick to make friends, but two weeks in, I still didn’t know anybody and nobody knew me. I felt forgotten and estranged. By chance one day, my emails had a message from OSI offering engagement meetings to students. I signed up for one, setting aside my fears, and laid out my interests, which included writing. The person I met suggested that I join some clubs, but The Captain’s Log was the only one I followed up on and I attended my first budget meeting sometime in September 2022.
It was a big step for me, but this club took some getting used to. Writing my first article was a huge hurdle, one that I only got over because of the support of Evelyn Davidson, who was News Editor at the time. I would end up writing a lot for News, but through that, gain the confidence to write a range of articles for the different sections. I have to also thank Alex Noth, Katherine Zickel, and Claire Hall for being so friendly to me during that first year I was here as a staff writer. I can’t remember what it was we would talk about at those budget meetings, but I remember how it made me feel accepted and included at a time when I needed that.
I would go on to write a range of articles, do event photography, and on a fateful day in Spring 2023 I asked if I could read over the paper before print and catch any errors – which at the time was a bit of an issue. I had no idea that what I was doing was Copy Editing, I just wanted to help out more at the newspaper. I was even more surprised when I was offered that position as actual employment for the next year. I also want to thank the Editors this year for working closely with me, even when inconvenient. It is your hard work, that I’ve seen plenty of, that has produced what I think is our best year of papers ever. I’m glad to have been a part of that.
Since then, other involvements have swallowed up more and more of my time outside of the newspaper, but the CLOG has remained an important part of my time at CNU and I won’t ever forget it. At the Captain’s Log, I developed and improved upon skills that are immediately useful for my future pursuits, including grad school. Here, I’ve met people who inspired me and also taught me important life lessons, who in the next moment will make me smile and laugh more than anyone else I’ve met. We all have bad days, but I’ve never had a bad day that’s included the company of any of my CLog friends.
