Something, hopefully something good

When I walk across the stage in May, clad in red that sits on my shoulders and falls past my knees, I’ll finally have the piece of paper I’ve been working towards for the past four years. But that’s not what I’ll be most proud of.

I’ll be more proud of all the time I spent as a member of The Miami Student.

I’ll have spent more than half of my time at Miami University as a proud member of The Student, and that’s been the best time I’ve had – but not for the reasons you may think.

I don’t care about how many bylines I have, how many front pages my name graced or how many awards I’ve won. I care about all the people I’ve met and every great thing we did.

But mostly, I’ll remember all the fun I had.

The fun at productions, parties or really any time in the newsroom. The productions where no one wanted to do their best bird call, even though I really wanted to hear them. The parties where I learned the most absurd fact about someone I’ve sat next to for a year. The times in the newsroom when I learned new card games or played hangman.

Every single person I’ve spent time with because of The Student has influenced me to work harder, have more fun or care more about it.

When I joined, everyone older than me made the newsroom feel like home. They’re the ones that taught me how to play Egyptian ratscrew, but more importantly, they taught me how to be a better journalist.

They were the first real editors who interacted with me and explained why every edit they made was important.

Luke Macy taught me how to write a lede that wasn’t just technically good, but actually fun to read. Alice Momany helped me understand what being an editor is really about, and how I could be a better writer because of it. Devin Ankeney, well, Devin taught me how to be chill in the newsroom when everything got stressful.

Similarly, every journalism professor I’ve had has impacted the journalist and person I am today.

Professor Fred Reeder is the reason why I’m even writing this. I took his JRN 101 class as a first-year student when I transferred to Miami. It was the second classroom I had stepped into on campus, but more impactful than any other that year.

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Reeder made it fun to learn journalism while also enforcing that anyone could be a writer, and I bought into it. I still remember how excited he was when I told him I added a journalism major because of his class. Who would’ve thought it would take me this far.

Professor Annie-Laurie Blair taught me how to interview and report. She had the perfect class to follow up Reeder’s 101 and 102 classes. I still use things she said to do when I interview someone and definitely still remember the AP Style mistakes I made in her class.

Professor Joe Sampson was one of the first professors who made my writing closer to what it is today. Sampson’s class was hard, but rewarding. I’m not built to write for broadcast. I’m bad at it. But, through a lot of trial and mostly error, my writing became cleaner and better.

Professor Rosemary Pennington pushed me to create one of the best stories I’ve written so far. She understood what I wanted to do and helped me at every turn.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Professor Stephen Siff as an intern and student. Both instances were fun learning experiences. Siff allowed me to be a reporter with free range with the Oxford Observer. Through that, I met incredible people with amazing stories. Oh, and I went fishing with Governor Mike Dewine for a day. At the same time, I learned that I had to do less work if I just did everything right the first time.

Professor James Tobin completely changed the way I looked at writing. I’ve taken three of his classes now, and I’ve seen my writing improve after every course.

I tried to use everything he taught me in one article earlier this year, and it quickly became one of my proudest bylines.

Through all of these professors I’ve learned about myself and improved with every class.

I can’t thank the students and professors who have helped me in the past four years enough, but I hope my work at The Student is something that you and I can be proud of because of how you’ve helped me.

turmankd@miamioh.edu