Sofia Rositani – Editor-in-Chief
“Yeah, the past was honestly the best. But my best is what comes next,” sang BTS in their song “Yet to Come.”
It is finally here, my last paper ever.
Four years ago, I came to this university naïve and excited for what was to come. I had a horrible experience in high school and my one friend had just moved to South Korea for school. I was scared and ready to start my next chapter in life.
I began my journey in the newspaper as a first-year student, I was a General Assignment Reporter. I followed into my sophomore year as Arts & Entertainment Editor, and my last two years as Editor-in-Chief.
I am thankful for everything my Southern News family has helped me with. Some of my closest friends are or were in Southern News. Shoutout to my girl Danielle for helping me through nights and days where I had breakdowns. We may be a small newspaper with few staff, but we became a family who helped one another through the semester and the days when it was hard.
I cannot say I will miss the stress and anxiety that came with the newspaper, but I will miss the mornings in layout where we would all rant to one another, and the Dunkin runs for breakfast.
This university taught me one thing, and that was to move forward not backwards. No matter how many times we try to get our voices heard, we must keep going and hope they listen. I will admit the most I did was opinions and reviews, but a lot of people have come up to me about them and talked to me about it, sometimes they were good, other times they were not.
“There were a lot of changes but, I’m still the same, a new chapter, every moment is my new best,” RM raps in “Yet to Come.”
I am looking forward to what comes next. Graduate school in the Fall, hopefully, and the Disney College Program in October. I am looking forward to my future. But even with the talks of it all we need to find time to ruminate and think about how we came to be here and be thankful.
I did not think I would make it this far, after the awful things I went through in junior year with the toxic relationships that ultimately led me to attempt and the things RAs were saying about me behind my back, I really expected to either be 7 feet under or dropped out.
But I gained two friendships in the paper that I never expected to have, one with the photo editor, Sarah, and the other with now graduate student, Danielle, who both helped me see the light and pushed me to stay and lead a better life, one I probably would have never had if I did not have their friendships.
I also want to thank my sister who helped me the night everything happened and stuck with me through the challenging times I had following it. My old roomie Tayler also deserves a shout out because without her I would not have had an amazing last semester living on campus that year.
I worked hard to get to where I am and I am proud of the obstacles and the hardships I overcame to get here, three weeks from graduating, something I never thought I would get to do.
No matter how hard life seems you need to keep pushing, find something you love, mine being BTS if you cannot tell, and keep that in your mind as you find the courage to persevere, trust me the four years will fly by so quickly you will not even have time to blink.
“Still got a lot to learn My life, got a lot to fulfill If you’re askin’ me why My heart’s tellin’ you, We ain’t about it, The world’s expectations, we ain’t about it. That step of being the best, we ain’t about it. Crowns and flowers, countless trophies, we ain’t about it. Dream and hope, and goin’ forward, we so about it. It’s back to square one after making one long turn, back to one,” J-hope, RM, and Suga rapped in “Yet to Come.”
