Welcome back Stuters!!
This summer not only changed the way I view The Stute but reassured me that we have a strong year ahead of us!
I am in my last full term as Editor-in-Chief this year, so I have seen quite a few Alumni Weekends and Stute Weekends, but none like this past summer.
Alumni Weekend was more stressful than usual this year. Isabella, the Outreach Chair, and I beautifully set up the UCC second Floor with free tote bags, old issues, photos, and decorations to welcome our alumni. However, we were not informed that the event would not be taking place in front of our office as it had in years past. We found out an hour before the event began, post-setup.
Sadly, this year, several organizations were placed in TechFlex, and The Stute was given a single round table with eight chairs. Safe to say, I was not impressed and deeply disappointed by the lack of communication on the administrative end. However, Isabella and I made the decision to make the most of it and split up. As she spoke to alumni downstairs, she sent them upstairs to look at our setup and hang out in front of the office, where they were greeted by me.
I was quite relieved that more than 20 alumni showed up to support us and share their stories from when they were part of The Stute. What really stunned me was that it was not just alumni from five or more years ago. Some were recent alumni who brought me into The Stute in the first place. It melted my heart talking to old friends and mentors and getting to show them what I had done since they graduated. This year was different. It was a reminder that soon, I will be attending Alumni Weekend and not waking up at 6 a.m. to get the office prepped for company.
For Stute Weekend this year, we invited 10 Class of 2030 students to campus, housed them in the UCC Residential Towers for three days, and put them through newspaper workshops. There were plenty of mishaps, from the bowling alley not being open at the time we booked our event to being stuck in New York City for three hours at 11 p.m. in Port Authority because our original PATH train was so packed it could not fit us all.
Yet, when I look back on all the Stute Weekends I have been a part of, I have never been so impressed by the maturity and ease with which those 10 students carried themselves. They kept smiles on their faces, cracked jokes, kept each other company, and still wanted to go out and get ice cream at 12:30 a.m.
They were so grateful to be part of the experience, and most of them even took two articles each for the first edition of the school year! It was refreshing to see younger individuals so passionate, kind, and confident in themselves.
In the end, they did something that I really could not have expected: They bought us chocolates and signed a card to say thank you for everything The Stute had done for them.
In my last term as Editor-in-Chief, my biggest worry was how I was going to let it all go. Four years later, The Stute has become the living, breathing part of my college experience. Before Stute Weekend, I felt unsure of how it would look when we seniors graduate this year. But those ten students, smiling, brought me to tears and gave me the reassurance that my worries were just that — worries.
Thankfully, it’s not over yet. You still have 19 more issues to hear me ramble on. Both events were the heart and soul of The Stute summer. And there will be many more just like them.
With that, I leave you Stuters with this quote that perfectly describes how I have been feeling about college lately:
“One day, you’re 17, and you’re planning for someday. And then quietly, without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” – John Green, Looking for Alaska
