So long and thanks for all the fish!

Four years and tens of thousands of photos later, my tenure at MSU and The Exponent is over. I can’t even begin to express how much I have learned working for this paper both as a staff photographer and as the photo editor. My experiences here have sent me on a career path that I am very proud of and excited to pursue.

If I had any advice for incoming freshman or any students for that matter it would be to get involved on campus. I was never one for school spirit in high school, and college would have been the same had it not been for The Exponent. I attended more events with a camera in hand in my first semester than I did in all four years of high school. I have learned so much I would have never even thought about from the lectures I attended. Broadening your horizons is the point of a college education, and that’s the beauty of the paper: It breaks you out of your shell.

I met new people and I made some incredible friends and acquaintances. I got over my fear of talking to complete strangers, and that alone is arguably more beneficial to my future than the education I spent thousands on. The paper allowed me to grow and develop. I had more happy accidents than I care to admit, too many mistakes to count, and a fair few successes, but that’s the other beauty of the Exponent: I got to mess up and learn from it.

I don’t know what the future may bring, but I do know that none of it would have been possible without this paper and all of the people that make it possible. So here is to all of the staff that has offered me advice and helped me grow and of course to all of our readers. It has been an extreme pleasure, I can’t wait to see the Exponent continue to grow through the years to come.