Nearly two years ago, I transferred to Montclair State University without ever even stepping foot on the campus.
Now as I am getting ready to graduate, I have been a part of NewsLab, FOCUS, Hawk+, WMSC, and The Montclarion, among many other special opportunities.
Let’s take it back to 2020. I had been a part of my county college’s newspaper after getting an encouraging word from my media writing professor (and after watching Beverly Hills, 90210, I am a TV major after all). We don’t need to talk about that paper, but I had always known I would transfer to Montclair State. And so during this time I would periodically look at The Montclarion’s Instagram account, seeing the posts from production day hoping someday I can be a part of that group. So, it’s funny that it took me until April of 2022 to finally join the paper.
I started an internship with NewsLab my first semester here and continued through the rest of my junior year. I had primarily worked with the NewsLab course, until being able to expand my skills in FOCUS and Hawk+ my second semester, thanks to Professor Effron. Every week I would attend the School of Communication and Media (SCM) coordination desk meetings with all the school’s platforms. During one of those very meetings, Emma Caughlan mentioned The Montclarion was looking for a video editor. I reached out and long story short, got the position alongside Hailey Mayewski, getting ready to take over for the next academic year.
That month I was able to complete two student artist profiles. One of which I worked on with Avery Nixon, who welcomed me into the paper immediately and would become my comedy junkie friend I have always wanted. My last project for the paper that month was a goodbye video for the seniors. Now it’s a year later and I can’t believe it’s already my time to say goodbye.
What I always loved about The Montclarion was that it was student-run. The paper we produced each week was genuinely and organically ours. I was able to have creative freedom for the videos I produced and edited, and I am very grateful to Professor Tara George for holding that standard.
Above all I got to work with a staff that I loved being a part of. I want to say thank you to Emma Caughlan for trusting me as your video editor, Jenna Sundel for being the Instagram reel queen, Hannah Effinger for bringing me into horoscopes, Megan Lim for always giving me video opportunities and making me smile, and literally everyone else on the staff for making this the experience it was.
Thank you to the video team. Special shoutout to my assistant and fellow resident assistant, Paige Ryans, for always coming with me to film campus voices. You made them fun. And shoutout to everyone who answered questions for us, really. And to Sophia Lazaridis, I know you will do great as video editor next semester and I can’t wait to see what you do.
I have always known how lucky I was to have this job, to have the office as my safe space, to work alongside so many talented people, and for all the work I got to do for the paper. And I know I will look for The Montclarion in all the workplaces I’m in going forward.
