As May Approaches, Senior Editors Say Goodbye The Rotunda

32 days. Well, actually, its 31. That's it. We're in the double digits and the days are flying by. As soon as the days get warmer that's how it always works. That's the reason summer flies by.we have so much fun playing in the sun that before we know it, it's time for school to start. Now we are getting into those warm days and senior year is ticking down. As the weeks go by and things wind down, it leaves a bittersweet feeling in us all. It seems like as each week goes by, one by one, my activities end. While I am glad to be able to have more time to do work and sleep, I will miss the busyness and of course, the friends that I have made.

The friends that I have made over the last two years are what have made all my experiences at Longwood amazing. On this journey that we call life, we encounter many friends. Some of those people we become very close to and others that we keep at arm's length. Those friends who we become close with are the ones who shape us in to the people we will eventually grow up to be. I credit the amazing experience in my time at The Rotunda to the friends that I have made. Each and every person that we have on staff has shaped me and made me the person who will be walking across that stage on May 9th.

Two years ago, if someone would have asked me where I would be on April 8, 2009, I would never have imagined myself sitting where I am today. I am in the company of two of my very best friends as we put to bed a chapter of our lives. We have been through a lot, Tim, A.J. and I. And somehow, we have seen a newspaper come out every single week. Sure, we have spent countless hours in the hot, stuffy office and cursed at our alarm clocks when they go off at 8 a.m. Wednesday mornings but I know none of us would trade the experiences that we have had for the world.

Last year, as I sat and wrote my final editorial, I never could have imagined The Rotunda coming as far as it has come. One year ago, I had a dream for The Rotunda. While it took a lot of hard work and tears (and believe me, there were a lot of tears that went into this paper), I achieved my dream. We went online with The Rotunda on September 10th, 2008. Yes, there was a website that was the online version of the paper; however, it had not been updated since April 2007. Many alumni had contacted us throughout last year asking if we had a website that they could catch up on the latest news around the campus; however, we had to tell them that the only way to read the paper was to pick up a hard copy of it. My goal was to bring the paper into the twenty-first century and catch up with the rest of the world. Multimedia aspects of news media are no longer the wave of the future. It is the present. With the existence of The Rotunda Online and The Rotunda Show, our campus newspaper is finally able to keep up.

Since The Rotunda went online, it seems that we have more people reading it. People are leaving online comments and actually talking about what we write. Although there have been some ups and downs, it makes me excited to see that The Rotunda is making a difference and that people are actually taking time to pick it up or log on to the website. My hope is that this paper and the online portion will continue to prosper.

Needless to say, I could have never done any of this alone, nor could I have made it through the last two years alone. I can say, hands down, there are three people who have truly made a large impact on my life and allowed me to chase my dream of having The Rotunda Online. Mr. Halliday, Tim and A.J. have been by my side from the beginning and they are here at the end, even after the roller coaster ride we have been on, especially this year. Not to discount those who have supported me throughout these crazy times (Josh Blakely!), but I owe every experience that I have had to these three.

There are two other people for whom I am very grateful. Two people who I have shared three amazing trips with, who I have cried with and laughed with. These two people who truly mean the world to me and I can't imagine what my life is going to be like not seeing them every day. Words can't even describe how much Tim and A.J. mean to me.

Tim and I first met through The Rotunda. I timidly sat two computers down from him. I wrote news briefs and he copy edited. I can honestly say that I was terrified of Tim. It wasn't until we went to Washington D.C. for a media convention that my fear went away. Throughout this adventure on The Rotunda, he has provided a lot of laughs. But he is also someone who I know I can talk to about anything. Although he will make fun of me until the end of time for some of the things that I have done or said, he is always be someone I know I can go to if I need help or a friend to talk to. I don't think that Tim gets as much credit as he deserves in his job. I have never seen someone spend so much time dedicated to making sure all the T's are crossed and all the I's are dotted. Without Tim, the facts wouldn't be checked and the paper would probably be a grammatical mess. Thankfully, he is willing to give up his weekends, and week nights for that matter, to copy edit. Not to mention the Wednesdays he spends walking around campus on no sleep just to make sure the new issues of The Rotunda get where they need to go. I can't imagine where paper would be without someone like Tim.

A.J. well, many people know about how I feel about him. I am amazed that a person can put so much dedication and heart into an organization. I am so proud of all the work he has done to bring the newspaper to where it is now. To see a person spend 16 hours in front of a computer to make sure the paper is perfect is simply mind blowing. The lengths that A.J. has gone to seen this paper succeed nobody will ever know. In the last two years, I have learned so much from him. I have learned to be patient and to listen to people before reacting. There is one valuable lesson that I have learned from A.J. and that is when to lead, and when to follow. For what seems like forever, I have always felt in competition with him. While I know I have what it takes to be his equal, that's not always what this paper needs. I have learned when to step up and be a leader and share my opinions, but I have learned when to take a backseat and go with the flow. Life is not a competition, and I have learned very well that it's hard to compete with someone who isn't competing back! I know that whatever decisions he may have made for this paper, even if I disagreed with them from time to time, he always had everyone's best interest at heart.