Goodbyes are overrated.
It imposes a finality. Maybe in a month we won't climb the stairs to 301 Flowers to start production. Or to bicker about whether our late-night meal in the office should be Cook-Out or buffalo wings.
But getting teary-eyed as we bid goodbye to the sports hall's beer bottle collection and Towerview's questionable couch seems like a lot of effort for very little gain.
We think it's because there is more to us working here then us actually being here. It was never so much about the newspaper as it was about us. Our personal growth that happened outside of academics and our dorm rooms and mainly between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m.
It was starting as a health and science reporter writing about sea turtles or as a naive sports reporter hoping to rack up as many bylines as possible and making our way, slowly and maturely, to campus leaders. It was seeing someone eviscerate an early byline in a letter to the editor or forgetting about attorney-client privilege midway through an interview with a lawyer, and sticking with The Chronicle regardless of the embarrassment.
It was seeing how much we didn't know and how much we could know and catering our college experience to learning everything in between. It was sacrificing trips abroad and friends' birthday parties, placing ourselves at the center of national controversy and yes—even potential lawsuits—to really become a part of The Chronicle.
This isn't to say that our time at Duke has been atypical. Just like everyone else, we've enjoyed sunny spring days on the Plaza, screamed our heads off at basketball games and attended more than a few wild parties. We've laughed and learned, loved and lost over the course of four years as we've been built up and struck down within the pressure cooker that is the Gothic Wonderland more times than we can count.
But on top of all that, we're glad to say we think we've gotten a little extra out of our Duke experience. That's the type of thing that can only come from intimate pow-wows with campus leaders and future professional sports stars, trips to China and front-row seats at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
At the end of it all, we're eternally grateful for what this organization has given us the opportunity to accomplish over the course of the last four years. And while at the surface it's easiest to look at the stacks and stacks of newspapers we've produced, the hundreds of bylines we've authored—what truly stands out are the stories. Not the stories we've written, but the stories behind our greatest successes and failures.
So as we prepare to say goodbye to Towerview, and Duke, emotional goodbyes are hardly worth our time. Our classmates may all be going our separate ways next year, but our experiences are coming with us.
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