Walking across campus as a senior is an interesting thing. No matter where you go, it’s sure to stir up some memory somewhere. Four years is a relatively short time, but the amount of memorable moments crammed in there is daunting. Every landmark has a fuzzy overlay of some crazy thing you did.

As my last days at Gannon University dwindle without a pop or a bang, I find myself just left with memories. The one I harp on now, as I sit in the basement of the Admissions building, is the first time I came to Edge and got an assignment. During my freshman year, former Edge staff member Chelsea Klube highly encouraged me to write for Edge while I was wrapping up my first Schuster Theatre performance. At the time I was already rocking a pretty loaded schedule with 18 credits, the Gannon Knight, 90.5 WERG and a host of other clubs. I really didn’t feel like I could possibly fit one more thing in.

It wasn’t until the following semester when friend and mentor Carly Lyons also told me I should join. I admired her for being as active and involved as I wanted to be, so it suddenly became much easier to pick myself out of bed and go to the meeting. Admittedly, the Edge office is a little tricky to find. Admissions is a sprawling mansion with multiple doorways, but it took me a couple passes to find the green-canopied staircase in the back. Carly commended me for finding the office so easily when I came in, even though I probably passed it six or seven times.

When I came to college I wanted to work in video more than anything else. When I first came to Edge I had extremely limited experience, but I was craving more. I jumped at the opportunity to do a video assignment and immediately felt the impressions of the staff around me. I didn’t know it then, but I was getting involved with something that would drive me through the rest of my college career. Luckily I came in just as the current video editor was on his way out, so I was able to apply for the job. So, in the fall of my sophomore year, I joined the editorial board of Edge along with Sarah Sgro and Matt Kridel.

Since then the rectangular office with the horrendous carpet has become a second home to me. Different from the theatre, my third home I suppose, Edge was somewhere I felt productive and successful. I was getting paid to do something I really enjoyed and I would never trade our office environment for anything. I stuck with Edge even as 90.5 WERG and the Gannon Knight faded from my horizon, becoming multimedia editor and then editor-in-chief (EIC). It’s funny how things work out like that.

As a freshman all I ever wanted was to be in charge of one of the big student media organizations. For me that was either general manager of WERG, editor-in-chief of the Knight, or Alpha Psi Omega president, but somewhere along the way I realized Edge was where I felt most comfortable. I saw the potential of moving it beyond a blog to attract freshman and becoming a place where students, faculty and staff could get information that was up-to-date and from a student perspective. When I applied for EIC my senior year I told Zach Flock, our advisor, I wanted Edge to expand aggressively. It occurred to me that we weren’t in competition with any other media organization on campus and it was time to define ourselves.

This last year has been a gift. My staff has worked incredibly hard and I thank all of them. We’re finally starting to get the traction we needed and these formative years will pay in spades over the next decade. I’ve said a hundred times if I could make my job at Edge full-time I would, but unfortunately time keeps ticking and I’ve got to be hitting the road. So even now, as Edge fades from my horizon, the future has never looked brighter.