Being a part of the Clarion over the past two years has been an incredible experience. My first year on the paper was centered on the Lifestyles section, which gave me the motivation to explore more in the Denver area, and for that I am very grateful.

This year I was able to work as a member of the team as a photo editor. This gave me the opportunity to be a real part of campus through Pio Voices and attending different events. The chance to go up to strangers and ask them if they will participate was wildly rewarding, albeit terrifying and discouraging at times. As photo editors, Caitlan and I were able to get to know students we would perhaps otherwise never meet and represent them through this paper. We learned people’s favorite hiking spots, restaurants and ways they would spend time. There aren’t a lot of other opportunities to get to know strangers so personally.

Going in every Monday evening to work was a highlight to get to know the editorial team and talented student photographers, too. Through the time we spent at our production nights, I became close to some of my favorite people and good friends. It made it much more inviting to go into work knowing that I would be able to see the friendly faces of my fellow editors, whom I love to listen to discuss matters of everything from pop culture to politics to things happening on campus.

And now I pass the baton on to my Co-Photo Editor. Caitlan: I have no preoccupations of your ability to do incredible work, both with your expertise and talent, but also your ability to encourage and improve our staff photographers. It has been a pleasure to work with you, get absolutely stuck on what question to ask each week and overall laugh our way through our jobs. I hope you have an amazing upcoming year on the Clarion and can’t wait to see all of your photos and great answers to Pio Voices in the paper.

I’d also like to thank John and Ryan so much for this opportunity and facilitating an inviting and friendly work atmosphere in the Clarion office. There are many ways a newspaper can be run, and this was definitely a rewarding and successful way to run it!

And with that, I use my one and only allotted exclamation mark in my Clarion career, quite fitting.

Grace Houser

Photo/Video Editor