krietzberg farewell letter

By Ian Krietzberg
Editor-in-Chief

It is exceptionally hard to believe that, after nearly three years at The Signal, my time at this organization is at an end. The prospect of graduation is, to me, not nearly as strange as the prospect of no longer being a part of this newspaper.

I have seen our newsroom change and evolve dramatically in the years I have been a part of it; when I first started, we were focused on providing a print product. We have weathered fiscal challenges and editorial challenges, staffing challenges and the Fall ‘21 semester which was marked by a non-functional website. We have remade ourselves several times, and in the process have refined our focus and our mission and our goals.

Looking at where we started and where we are now, I am exceptionally proud of every editor and writer, photographer and artist that has been a part of this community and team. It has been a wonderful pleasure to watch our staff grow and to see new people — both freshman and seniors alike — mold themselves into our community and contribute their unique perspectives and earnest talent to our work.

The Signal is an organization that works best when driven by passionate people, and seeing the passion our editors and writers have displayed has been incredibly encouraging. It gives me a lot of hope for the future of this organization.

I owe a lot to the Signal. It has granted me an irreplaceable experience, it has shaped me as a writer and as a leader and editor and it has most certainly helped lead me to each job and internship I’ve held in the field. It is also responsible for introducing me to some truly incredible people that I would not have met otherwise.

The Signal editorial staff during one of the weekly meetings. (Photo courtesy of Raahi Desai)

I would have been remiss to not take this opportunity to seal my sincere thanks and farewell to this life-changing organization in what will serve as my final article for the Signal.

So thank you, to everyone who I have worked with in the past. Thank you to the Journalism department for your support. And a sincere thank you to my wonderful staff who exceeded my expectations at every turn. It has been a true pleasure to get to know all of you and to watch you learn the ropes and grow together as a cohesive team and community.

And I sincerely hope that this organization will continue to thrive, that this community will continue to foster excitement and that we will always serve as a platform for that most pure profession of storytelling.

“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”