I can’t remember why I scanned a QR code on the first floor of the Adler Journalism Building to join The Daily Iowan arts section in March 2023, but it feels like something I was always meant to do in retrospect. 

Before I started working at the DI, I was an antisocial first-year who preferred catching a movie at FilmScene to going out and felt unfulfilled socially and professionally. I felt like I wasn’t getting the most out of the special community around me or of the busy campus I was supposed to call home. 

Reporting for the DI arts section, a small but mighty crew of four reporters under my editor Parker Jones when I began, drew me deeper into the Iowa City community and brought me the fulfillment I was searching for. 

Not only did being thrown into the deep end of covering local events and interviewing community leaders shatter the shell I had developed between graduating high school and attending the University of Iowa, it also guided me professionally. 

Working with my fellow editors, and especially under the guidance of Stella Shipman, Avi Lapchick, Jami Martin-Trainor, and Roxy Ekberg, I feel like I’ve developed my storytelling skills, syntactic awareness, and ability to thrive under pressure. Journalism is a high pressure gig, but throughout my three years at the DI I’ve learned to accept the things I can’t control. 

A majority of my time in the newsroom was spent as an editor, and having the opportunity to lead the creative section of the paper, grow it from the handful of reporters we had to start, and develop a reliable team has been an absolute joy; one I feel like I can tangibly see the impact of and feel proud of. 

It took me a while to come out of that shell, though, so I want to thank everyone I’ve worked with for being patient with me as I developed into the editor I am today. The people I’ve worked with are the real reason I never quit, even though there have been some dark nights of the soul in which a frustrated call to my parents said otherwise. 

Whenever something falls apart, I think about the best memories I’ve had in the newsroom, like the movie nights or evenings spent huddled around the TV watching an important political event together. 

I think about the countless times Isabelle or Evan referenced some brainrot thing that made me cry laughing and choke on my Chipotle bowl, or when Shreya and I shout terrible headline ideas at each other at 11:45 p.m. on Monday nights, trying to wrap up print edits before our brains give out.

I think about the word of congratulations that fill my inbox the morning after a big feature story of mine runs, or the texts I’ve received from reporters at the end of the year thanking me for helping out on a particularly messy story or lengthy editing process. 

Those are the times it makes the tough moments worth it. 

If you told me when I first moved here and was likely sitting in my room alone playing Resident Evil games and eating hot Cheetos I would have leadership positions, at the DI and The Bijou Film Board, I would have laughed in your face and said “what are those?”

Getting to know your community is one of the most important things you can do in the tumultuous political climate we exist in, and I’ll forever to be indebted to the DI for making me feel like a part of Iowa City, shaping my professional prospects, and introducing me to friends who have always supported my work. 

And thank you to whoever put out those DI flyers in 2023, I couldn’t have done it without you.