About a month into this semester, my final semester at SDSU, I joined the Daily Aztec. The timing is questionable, no doubt. As a journalism major, I should have joined on my first arrival to the campus. But, it did not play out that way, because of a variety of factors including the pandemic of course.
Despite this, in the relatively short time I have spent at the Daily Aztec I have had an amazing time. For the first time ever, I had a platform. Instead of reading about how others felt about a certain album or movie, it was time to speak for myself.
With the few short months at the Daily Aztec, I was able to contribute in a number of ways. I had the pleasure of reviewing multiple albums featuring some of the biggest artists, the privilege of speaking with some local artists about a project of theirs, and the joy of collaborating with my peers for articles and the Daily Aztec broadcast. I have gained some incredible experience since my first article in mid-February. While every moment may not have been easy or simple, it was all more than worth it.
College has felt like a blur. Since my first semester at community college in Fall of 2017, time has only seemed to speed up. Knocking out sixty credits at Grossmont taking summer and intersession classes, arriving at SDSU, nothing could slow down time. After only one full semester on the campus of SDSU, the pandemic forced a transition to online learning. This, of course, did nothing to slow down the breakneck pace time has existed in for the past four years. It only sped it up in all honesty.
As I write this farewell, I find it important to thank those who have helped me get to this point. Thank you to my family for their total support of me. Thank you to my girlfriend for being there every step of the way. Thank you to my professors for helping me discover and expand my intellectual abilities. Thank you to Angela for getting me started at the Daily Aztec. Thank you to Devin for being a great editor. Thank you to the Daily Aztec for welcoming me, giving me a voice and thank you to the Daily Aztec workers I had the privilege of working with. Finally, to anybody who read my work, I sincerely thank you.
While I watch the days till graduation slowly decrease, I wonder to myself if there I have any regrets. I have one, not joining the Daily Aztec sooner. Besides that, I feel like everything played out the way it had to. I mean, I would’ve preferred to have those two and a half semesters which were spent online, in person, but I’m not angry with what reality offered.
I walk away from San Diego State University as a proud Aztec, writer and member of a generation which has an unfathomable amount to offer.
