When I moved from Toronto to Alabama I gave myself five years to enjoy it and move on. This June will mark seven years residing in this great state. It was here that I began working for Cracker Barrel, had the opportunity to work at WHNT, fell in love, got married, started school and will be graduating in July. It’s also where I’ve made countless memories with The Flor-Ala staff.

I’ve been blessed with many opportunities here, most of which I would not have had if I had stayed back home. I’m thankful for all of them. I was privileged to work for UNA’s student publication this past school year, where I witnessed The Flor-Ala grow from some paper no one really cared about to watching students debate articles and editorials they read.

The entire staff did an amazing job, and we worked countless hours to bring you news once a week. I watched new students tackle challenging stories and writers become journalists.

I’m confident next year’s paper, under the direction of new executive editor Lucy Berry, will continue to print relevant stories with integrity and professionalism.

That being said, I thought I would offer my words of wisdom from things I’ve learned this past year.

Number one: Taking your parking decal off your rear-view mirror and parking in visitor parking will still get you a $20 fine. Number two: Letters to the editor are a great way for readers to vent about something they don’t agree with in the paper.

Verbally attacking me in the hall is not. And lastly, number three: If you’re a commuter, like I was my entire time at UNA, carpool. Gas is expensive and it’s only getting worse. Thank goodness my 65 mile commute each way is about over.

I want to thank everyone who kept The Flor-Ala something people looked forward to each Thursday. We had a great staff writing for us, great photographers taking pictures for us and great readers who faithfully read us.

In closing, I want to leave you with a quote from one of my all-time favorite sarcastic, witty writers, Benjamin Franklin, who once said, “If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”

I know many of you didn’t like all aspects of our paper, and I’m sure several rolled their eyes to my ultra-critical editorials, but I still want to thank you anyway for making this year memorable for me. You can’t please everyone, but I think The Flor-Ala will continue to serve this university well.