I still remember the first time I ever entered The Chronicle office. I was a small, scared freshman who’d been recommended for the assistant op-ed editor position by Professor Joseph Peyronnin, based on my work in the introductory journalism class I was taking with him. The Chronicle website was still an ugly thing hosted on WordPress, the only contributions I’d made had been a few photos here and there and truthfully, I had never so much as held a physical issue of the paper.

But I stepped into the office with its exposed brick walls and its stacks of newspapers everywhere and its ancient Macs covered in sticky notes and its broken couches passed down for generations and its corkboards pinned with colorful prints of nerdy journalism jokes, and I knew I had to be a part of it all. And somehow, I did become part of it, almost completely by accident. But what a wonderful accident it’s been.

Over the past two and a half years, I have sacrificed countless hours of sleep and sanity and leisure time and time that I really should have used to study, all for the sake of producing this newspaper every week. When you think about it, it’s kind of an insane endeavor for full-time students with jobs and internships to take on for absolutely zero pay or even class credit. That should definitely change, but regardless I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

The Chronicle has taught me how to be a journalist, which is to say that The Chronicle has taught me what it means for a newspaper to be a community service, what it means to work as a team and to lead a team, what it means to speak truth to power. In my time here, we’ve published op-eds that have sparked national and international conversations on everything from the meanings of monuments to discrimination on campus, and frequently the intersection of those issues.

Most importantly, we’ve provided a vital platform for campus-specific conversations, ones which have frequently led to controversy if not actual change. I firmly believe that local newspapers, including student newspapers, are vital for holding those in power accountable, and the op-ed section of any paper is a necessary public forum for that very purpose. It has been the deepest honor to uplift the voices of students and staff who are working to create that change on campus, and that’s an ethic I know The Chronicle staff will continue to uphold.

So here I am now, sitting in the office that has become a home, in front of a framed collage of photos from the post-2016 election peace vigil which served as the centerspread for that week’s issue of The Chronicle. In other words, I am literally face to face with my freshman self, forever captured ugly crying and (rightfully) terrified of what would come next. But here I am anyway, on the verge of graduating college a semester early, and that in and of itself is a monumental feat for someone who didn’t really plan on living to adulthood in the first place.

Of course, I have an endless amount of people to thank for the fact that I am still here and for all that I have accomplished along the way. First and foremost, to all of The Chronicle staff that I have had the pleasure of working with over the years: Thank you for all the singalongs and the snacks and the conversations about journalistic ethics, and for generally being my exact brand of nerd that I needed during college. Thank you especially to former multimedia editor Jesse Saunders, who pushed me into getting involved with The Chronicle in the first place and is still my sounding board of sanity.

Then of course, there’s my co-editor Amanda and my assistant editors, Sarah and Vis, who will be bravely taking over the mantle from both myself and Amanda after only one semester of training – and they’re both going to absolutely kill it. Thanks for rolling with the punches.

Thank you to every professor who has ever shown me kindness when I’ve sent frantic, apologetic emails about such and such late assignment or number of absences, especially to those professors who have seen past the missed deadlines and reassured me of my value nonetheless.

Thank you to Nonsense Humor Magazine – enough said about that.

Thank you to the student activists and organizers who have worked tirelessly to create change here and who have empowered me to really come into myself, especially Indigo. Thank you to all the friends I’ve made these past few years, and to the friends I’ve still got at home. Thank you to my partner, Noah Lowe, for taking on the task of Dating A Writer and also for letting me book shows in your garage/basement (thanks to their roommates also). Thank you to my family for allowing me to run away to New York and making me feel loved and supported from 3,000 miles away.

To sum it up, thank you to everyone who has ever believed in me, especially when I didn’t believe in myself. I literally could not have made it this far without you, and I know I can make it through whatever comes next because of you. As the saying goes: “Per aspera ad astra.”

James Factora is a queer Asian who likes to make jokes on Twitter @james_factora. They are also the op-ed editor of the Chronicle.