My final column, my first byline

We all have moments we operate on autopilot. For many of us, these moments are frequent during our first year at Duke, but I’m not sure when we adopt this cruising attitude. Maybe it begins with orientation week pushing us through the unfamiliar Durham heat from information sessions to hall meetings to social events with dormmates we don’t quite know. Maybe it’s sparked by our first class registrations when we aren’t sure if we’ll be engineers in a semester or how difficult the math classes here are. Maybe it’s heightened by applications for our summers or majors or post-graduate lives before we’ve even completed our first semesters, as we struggle to match pace with classmates who are better with plans and goals and lists than we are. Even in a current as fast as our university’s, it can feel most comfortable to just be swept along.  

And comfort was exactly what I was seeking during my first year at Duke. Still reeling from the death of my grandfather, I arrived feeling unprepared and confused at a university I didn’t understand. 

I’m lucky The Chronicle found me. 

Sometime during Spring semester, I was recruited to the Editorial Board, and from that point on, our meeting room in Flowers 201 became my home. But those first few months on the Board were far from comfortable. It would be an understatement to call the beginning overwhelming and a lie to say that I didn’t think about quitting at least once a week. When I joined the Board, I collaborated with a group of upperclassmen who brought confidence and knowledge to the table. They participated in this university. They asked questions. They listened. 

From their example, I learned to do the same. Months later, behind the nom-de-plume of our daily editorials, I found my voice. Over these past six semesters, I’ve contributed to editorials about hate and bias and sexual assault on campus, about the complacency of our student body and our tunnel vision for success, about the steps we’ve taken forward and the ways in which we haven’t moved at all. My first-year self coasted through a university that glistened. While in some ways I miss the naive positivity, I’ve found that autopilot is overrated. 

I’m not the only one. We all come to Duke a little confused, and together, we’ve tried and failed over and over, from intramural softball to organic chemistry. But I’ve witnessed classmates discover passion in some of those failures and steer that into success. I’ve been inspired by friends who devote hours to studying infectious disease, who build devices that will revolutionize the healthcare industry one day and who write gripping personal monologues for sold-out shows. I’ve admired those who protest for fairness and equity, who champion institutional changes and who always initiate difficult but necessary conversations. I’ve seen my friends reject autopilot, push past the uncomfortable to accomplish what I would definitely describe as greatness. 

As I finish writing this column, though I’m graduating, I really have no profound advice to pass on to others. But I know I’ll always remind myself to not be afraid of what I don’t know and to try something new even when I’m comfortable with where I am because Duke has taught me that there’s always something out there that’s worth the exploration, no matter the risks. 

Over four hundred editorials later, as I sign off on my first byline, I’m learning that even with under two weeks to go, Duke still has more new opportunities to throw my way. 

I know that I will take them. 

Surabhi Beriwal is a Trinity senior. She served as co-chair of the Editorial Board for The Chronicle’s 112th volume and as a voting member of the Board for The Chronicle’s 111th and 113th volumes. She would like to thank Lenny Giarrano for recruiting her to the Board and patiently editing some horrendous early editorials she wrote, Asa Royal for being a phenomenal co-chair who will forever know more than she could ever fathom knowing, Claire Ballentine for her commitment to the Board and The Chronicle in general and, finally, the ever-changing but consistently-talented Editorial Board who made these past three years so worthwhile.

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