Subscribe to RSSReflections from Editorial Board seniors
Editorial Cartoon by Brian Regan
After many long hours pouring over newspaper pages and dedicating time to this publication, graduating seniors from The Lumberjack editorial board reflect on their time at NAU.
Chuck Constantino, Sports Editor
I stepped on campus four years ago uncertain. Fast forward four years and about 120 issues of The Lumberjack later, and I’m nowhere near the boy I was. The nature of Flagstaff has forever changed me.
College is all about finding yourself. Don’t worry too much. Things happen and out of your normal support system, tasks can seem much more daunting than they actually are. Part of college is making decisions, some good, more bad. Taking things one day at a time is the best advice I could give to you Lumberjacks.
You will outgrow some of your friends. Some of them will outgrow you. But, have no fear, it is all a part of this great discovery process we call college.
I have poured my heart and soul into The Lumberjack, with 90 issues as the sports editor under my belt. I was here when the frats were upset, and I was here when the football team was upset.
Just a couple of months from now I’ll be Orlando, Fla. hanging with Mickey and Dwight Howard working on a state senate campaign. I never thought this opportunity would appear, but now that it has, I’m ready to help win an election.
I love this job; this university and I would not trade my college experience with anyone else. Maybe Matt Barkley, but that’s it.
Trevor Gould, A&E Editor
Through my undergraduate career, I have consistently maintained one thought: College is a jungle and I’m just a monkey. While this expression obviously draws into question my intelligence and ability to walk on two legs, I believe it is a thoroughly accurate, albeit creative, representation of college life.
I have managed to navigate the treacherous collegiate landscape and emerge relatively unscathed. I entered college an immature eccentric and am now leaving as a slightly more mature eccentric. To say it has been an easy ride would be a drastic overstatement.
Through my time here at NAU, I’ve experienced some of the worst and greatest times of my life. I’ll never forget the tears, the great friends, the stress, the personal triumphs and walking in zero-degree weather wearing athletic shorts. I’ll never forget the sub-par Sudexo food, bipolar Flagstaff weather and alarming number of hipsters frequenting our campus.
This is my final issue with The Lumberjack, the culmination of six semester’s worth of hard work and determination. I consider myself so lucky to have been granted the opportunity to work alongside such outstanding and talented people. Joining this newspaper was one of the best decisions I made here at NAU, and I will miss The Lumberjack dearly.
I am now off to the concrete jungle known as Los Angeles, where I will be beginning my professional career in the field of communication. Yet even as I progress in life and my NAU experiences fade away into a series of simple memories, in the tradition of The Beatles, NAU will always be “in my ear and in my eye.” And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Jessica Lehr, Creative Director
After sleepless nights spent mesmerized by a computer screen, hair-pulling technical problems and the infamous ‘color-wheel of death’ that ultimately resulted in forcing your computer to shut down – a cruel lesson to remind you to save your work before it’s too late – I am now graduating with an overwhelming sense of pride. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am relieved to be making it out alive. It was all worth it, but dang it, I am glad it’s over!
Graphic design is very time consuming, especially if you are a perfectionist and critical of every little detail of your work. My love for graphic arts and my drive to stop at nothing is what helped me get through my years at NAU. I am graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication with an emphasis in graphic design before turning 21. I worked my rear off and there is no better feeling than finalizing your portfolio and smiling – and maybe dancing – with achievement. I have learned so much in the past few years from my experiences with designing for UTV62, becoming Creative Director for The Lumberjack, creating ads and posters that were posted around campus and attending numerous art conferences as an AIGA, the professional association for design, member. I had a lot on my plate, including the pressure to maintain a high GPA in order to keep my scholarships and part in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Golden Key International Honour Society.
As Booker T. Washington once said, “Nothing in life worth having comes easy.” My work here is done; now it’s time for me to get my social life back.
Brett Murdock, Senior Sports Reporter
I always knew I would end up at NAU. Even when I was looking at other colleges, in my heart I knew Flagstaff would wind up plucking me away from Glendale. I would not have had it any other way. In my time in the pines, I have gained a greater appreciation for thoughts and ideas that I had never considered before. Being able to study, work and live in a small-town atmosphere provided me the chance to branch out and try new things, start new relationships and strengthen old ones.
Much of my time was spent at either a football or basketball game as a member of The Lumberjack, and that experience provided me with some of my most memorable moments at NAU. The memories I’ll most cherish, however, are the simple ones, where nobody worries and everybody just takes it easy. Of course, not everything is going to be that merry and jolly, because rough spots always come up, but that’s life. There is nothing that can be done about that. Now, as I prepare to graduate, I leave the following advice to those who must still wait for that fateful day: Kick some axe, Lumberjacks.
Jon Novak, Life Editor
After my first year in Flagstaff, I thought it might have been a mistake to choose NAU over UA. Now that my stay here is ending, I’m so glad I didn’t make the alternative decision. I’ve met a ton of people over the last three years. I made friends with a couple of clowns I now consider my best friends and will know for the rest of my life. I smiled at a lot of girls and maintained strong relationships with the few impressionable instructors I had. And before I forget, I might as well mention how much I learned about political science, documentary filmmaking, photography and journalism.
But academics aren’t what I’ll remember about school in Flagstaff. It was the people and the experiences that made all the difference. Even though I was tasked with writing papers constantly, school here felt like a breeze. I like to think it was because I was having fun.
Flagstaff as its own autonomous mountain town is a region where people are more progressive, care about the environment and tend to shun Arizona politics; it had a profound impact on my own beliefs, values and traditions. I know what compost is now and I plan to use it in my own garden. I recycle, value community above all and when people choose to drive over bicycle during the summer, I often scorn them. The lifestyle I have created for myself in this town and at the university is one I’ll never forget, and I’m afraid I’ll spend the rest of my life seeking something similar. There is really no better place to be, certainly not in Arizona.
