Melanie Haid is a senior journalism major and serves as Editor-In-Chief. // Photo courtesy of Melanie Haid.

I would not be who I am today without The Hofstra Chronicle. I think that’s a good way to reflect on these past four years and recognize that, through good and bad, the consistency of this club, this paper, this group of people who will be at my wedding and will be my friends for probably the rest of my life on this little planet, has always been there in one way or another.

When I started my freshman year, I got involved in just about everything possible, and The Chronicle was the very first thing. I was the managing editor of my paper in high school, and I had known since I could pick up a crayon that I was going to be a writer (which, over time, manifested itself into my love for journalism). I pitched myself to be a bi-weekly columnist in the op-ed section in the op-ed editor’s car while doing distro on a Tuesday night, and from then on, I wrote. And wrote. And wrote.

Over the years, The Chronicle office became a place of escape; though the labor of love every week through meetings and 4 a.m. layout nights on Mondays was a stress in itself, it was a stress that I welcomed, and one that I’ll miss forever.

This past year has been heartbreaking. It’s like nothing we could have expected for our final year with the paper, and I am so thankful that those not yet graduating will have the opportunity to return to the office and a sense of normalcy in the fall. The paper is everything, it’s meticulous reading and researching and focused writing and literally so many meetings all the time, it’s hard decisions, wanting to do what’s best and failing, failing incredibly, and learning.

I’ve learned more from this paper than I have from any class, and any internship. I’ve learned how to be a leader, how to interview, how to write news; how to believe in something, how to love something despite its flaws, how to learn from those around me.

It’s hard to believe that it’s over, and that it’s ending like this. I never got to sit in that chair in the office behind the Editor-in-Chief’s desk, something I’d dreamed about since becoming an assistant for the news section. I never got to do even half of the things I had planned as a leader in this organization. It’s taught me to be flexible, and I suppose that is the greatest gift of all.

I hope that The Chronicle can continue to be, and return to, what it was when I started. What I fell in love with. What kept me up for days on end and took everything out of me every week but gave me the best experiences, the best people and the confidence to go on after graduation knowing that I am prepared.

This paper has grown from raising me my freshman year to what now feels like sending my own child off into the world alone. Ask anyone: this paper has been my life for the past four years. Maybe only a small part of it, but arguably one of the most important ones. Take care of her for me. Hold her to the highest standard. Take not a single moment for granted, and love her with all you’ve got. I know you will.