I was drawn to DU when I was applying for college for a lot of reasons, but a big one was the city of Denver itself. I knew that I was interested in urban policy as a field of study, and I wanted to find ways to engage with Denver as it grew, changed and continued to pull in smart and weird and interesting people. I would like to think that this interest in our city is part of what informed my decision to apply for a job at the Clarion, even though I really put in an application on a whim based on a suggestion from my fellow editor Maya Piñón. However it happened, holding the position of Opinions Editor for the past two years has indeed allowed me to grow my knowledge of Denver and DU’s place in it, and it has turned out to be a surprisingly important and rewarding part of my life.

I have learned a great deal from the world of student journalism in my time at DU, and being a part of the Clarion has been a major contributor to how I think about local and national issues as well as topics I encounter in my formal studies in economics and public policy. In my last two years as Opinions Editor, Denver and DU have adjusted to a new presidential administration, confronted the impacts of climate change, reckoned with school shootings and gun control, amplified the voices of women bringing their stories to light, watched the city change as we turn the heads of companies like Amazon, grappled with the university’s history and tried to figure out what to do next. Having the Clarion as a place to write about, read about and discuss more and different perspectives with my fellow editors and writers has been very valuable, and it has certainly encouraged me to think more deeply and actively seek out different ideas.

Each day at the Clarion has also reminded me that this organization is serving a crucial purpose. It has been a tricky few years for journalism in Denver as The Denver Post suffers from layoffs and cuts at the hands of its hedge fund owners, and the Clarion’s place as a publication both for members of the DU community and for Denverites in general is especially important now. In the coming years, I encourage the incoming team of editors and writers to continue to take that responsibility seriously.

With this final sign-off, I would like to express my gratitude to the editorial staff and our team of writers for creating a place where I have encountered ideas that have both affirmed and challenged my own. It is surprisingly often that I pitch a story with an idea of what the opinion might be and get something back that wildly differs from what I had in mind, and that is where I have learned the most. Thank you to my fellow editors—I am proud of our work this year in bringing in more writers and more stories. Taryn and Grace, you have set the Clarion on a strong upward trajectory and I am excited to see what happens next. I would also like to extend a special thank you to this year’s team of Opinions writers, especially Kiana, Jake, Megan, Conor and Rachel, for your impressive diligence and commitment—I lucked out having such a good team.

As final parting words, I will use the one allotted exclamation point of my career to give special recognition to another neglected punctuation mark that has haunted my Clarion days: I’m coming back to you now, Oxford comma!