Like many writers and staff who are part of the Clarion, I walked into my first meeting during my first week at the University of Denver. 

There was still strict COVID protocol, so everyone was wearing masks. We were in a downstairs room of the Community Commons. I wrote an article about a DU Volleyball game under the sports editor, who would later become the Editor-in-Chief and a good friend, Aubrey Cox. 

I spotted a familiar face in the corner – a girl with blonde hair who I recognized from my PLP cohort, who lived just down the hall from me. She would later be my fellow copy editor, then the news editor, and now our current opinions editor, Annabelle Kiely. I later learned that our current Editor-in-Chief, Ana Júlia Rodrigues Alves, was also at that meeting.

I wrote four articles in the fall of 2021. Then, not really having made any new friends or a particularly deep connection to the Clarion, I stopped writing. I joined other activities on campus, but I still received the Clarion newsletter every week and would read the articles on the website.

It is through the newsletter emails, during the first week of my second year at DU, that I saw they were hiring a copy editor position. I met with then Editor-in-Chief Ana Ortega, who interviewed me and hired me in one foul swoop. I started staying late every Monday and getting paid to do something I love: reading articles and taking my metaphorical red pen to them before they were published.

The staff changed many times over the next few quarters. The writers changed too, coming and going as they pleased. But I was always the copyeditor, and that level of consistency felt fulfilling. 

I worked with Annabelle for a while until she switched positions, then I left to study abroad in France. We hired Mason Wageman to be a copy editor while I was gone, which morphed into him being a poetry and prose editor for us as well. This quarter, it is his turn to be abroad in Ireland, and I’m holding down the fort in my last quarter here at DU, waiting for his return so he can take back the reins from me. 

My last quarter at DU. I never thought this moment would come, but now it is my time to say goodbye to the DU Clarion, as so many have before me. Honestly, this publication changed my life. I got to truly be part of student journalism, watch it grow and morph with the addition of new departments, the bringing back of the print edition and celebrating our 125th anniversary. 

I have gotten to be under the amazing and funny leadership of Andrew Matranga and work with some of the best staff ever, both currently here and abroad: Liam Piper, Emma Lawson, Annabelle Kiely, Josie LeCompte, Avery Young, Anna Neumann, Mason Wageman, Alyssa Avila, Haylee Griffith, Riley Laub and Ana Júlia Rodrigues Alves.  

I can’t thank you guys enough for letting me be part of this in so many ways, from working on social media, to writing my own column, to helping with the print edition and allowing me to write this final farewell to what has been a lovely three years here. Writing is a gift and privilege, and I will never stop advocating for people to take advantage of that ability. Even if I don’t edit in a professional role again, I will never forget the joy that it brought me and the deep connection that I finally felt I had with this publication. 

I hope my profound thanks can be extended and felt not only by those who are here but those who are abroad, and all of the staff and alumni who have come before me. Even though we aren’t supposed to use the Oxford Comma in AP Style, I will use it now to say thank you, thank you, and thank you. That is all I can say about such a lovely life experience at this wonderful university with these amazing people. Goodbye y’all.  

Signing off,

Jackie Michel

Copy Editor Emeritus