Editor’s Note: “-30-” has traditionally been used throughout journalism to indicate the end of a story. Each semester, The University Star encourages its graduating seniors to write a Senior 30 — a farewell piece to readers — indicating the conclusion of a journalist’s time as an active member of our organization.
I joined The Star the summer before my senior year. It was a pretty late-in-the-game move for me to make in college and I felt a lot of trepidation going in. Even though I had taken some journalism classes, I was by no means the best writer and skated by with a cool ‘B’ in the courses. I chose to apply for the engagement section because it felt like the section I would be able to do the most good while doing the least amount of writing.
Over time, I wanted to make a bigger contribution to The Star. I wanted to write for The Star, but I had no interest in hard-hitting news (too scary), or opinions (too much research), or sports (self-explanatory)… So what could I write?
I grew up in the DFW area and my go-to source for weekend festivities was always The Dallas Observer’s ‘Things To Do’ section. I wrote my first ‘things to do’ article for the weekend on July 4th, 2021, and have never looked back.
As of the time I am writing my Senior 30, I will have 24 published ‘weekend things to do’ articles all under my very own tab in Life and Arts on the website. I hope to write at least one more before I graduate. It is an incredible feeling to look back on all the articles and know that I did something in my time at Texas State — that I got to leave a mark. I hope that ‘This Weekend On The Town’ is a series that will go on long after I have graduated from The Star.
I want to thank retired Engagement Editor Eryka Thompson, current Engagement Editor, Meadow Chase and Editor-in-Chief, Brianna Benitez for helping me edit and publish my article every week. I hope you guys have had as much fun with it as I have. I also want to shout out to my friend Payton Russell for encouraging me to get involved with The Star and for being so supportive of all my journalistic endeavors. Without Payton, my ideas would have just remained ideas.
Thank you to everyone who read my articles and took my suggestions. Be safe and enjoy your weekend!