Eggert: A change for the better

“Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

I think about those lyrics from my favorite Broadway musical “Wicked” when my life changes — when my close high school friend moved hours away to college, when my first college friend graduated and when my grandpa died.

This time the change directly affects me.

I am leaving college behind to venture out in the great beyond, also known as the real world. I do not feel ready even as I write this column. This farewell cannot be happening.

These four years, which include two and a half at The Independent Collegian, have gone by in what seems like an instant.

When I reflect on my time at the University of Toledo, I don’t think about the assignments I stressed about or the grades I received — I think about the IC and its staff. To me, they are the most important part of my college journey and experience.

A year ago I wouldn’t have believed any of this could have been possible. I wouldn’t have believed I could be the editor-in-chief.

I was terrified at what the future held for me. I used to wonder if I made the right decision to take on so much responsibility and if I could find it in myself to lead a group of dedicated students.

After struggling with the demands of the job for a few months, something ended up clicking — we found our groove. I realized that despite everything we had been through so far, especially with the transitioning of editors and new staff reporters, we were able to handle what came our way as a team.

I look back on those late deadline nights — getting Starbucks two minutes before they closed, eating pizza in the newsroom, editing stories a mere hour before deadline and laying out the last story seconds away from 3 a.m. — and I smile to myself.

Yet I also remember frustrating times when we had to rush because it was too late and the story would have to work on the page the way it was. Of course there were arguments about editorials, story content and photo choices, but it was in those moments that I realized our staff cared about our paper as much as I do.

And they care a lot.

I look around the newsroom and I see a group of hard-working, passionate journalists. They have so much potential I’m sure they don’t fully comprehend and they have a keen ability to handle conflict when it arises.

When I see a student pick up a copy of the newspaper on Wednesday morning after we spent countless hours putting it together, it makes it all worth it, and I’m sure the staff would agree.

It was those people surrounding me that have changed me for the better. I have learned a lot about myself and what it means to be part of a team. The IC staff helped me build confidence within myself, and I helped them believe they could meet their goals.

I know now that I have achieved mine and am so grateful for the opportunities and memories the IC brought me. The IC will always hold a special place in my heart because when I first came to college, I didn’t know who I was and I was struggling to make sense of it all. But it was those who worked at the IC that helped me discover who I am, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

To everyone I met during my years at the IC — because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

Amanda Eggert is a fourth-year majoring in communication, and she is the outgoing editor-in-chief at the Independent Collegian.