Sports sign-off: Mike

Entering this, my third senior year at EWU, expectations for a diploma and a job finally seemed within my grasp. Looking to turn in my career-student status, I was eager, and completely ignorant of what lay ahead of me.

As an English, not journalism, major I found that writing for the school paper was not the cake-walk I had expected it to be. Having composed countless essays, term-papers, poems and e-mails throughout my college career, I had little doubt that my previous experiences had aptly prepared me for a year of reporting ... I was wrong.

Much to my surprise, my pattern of stretching poorly organized, half-conceived pieces to meet the minimum page requirement was exactly the opposite of good journalism. After all, when summarizing two basketball games in fewer than 600 words while trying to incorporate statistics and quotations from players and coaches, every word counts.

My flimsy writing style combined with the fact that I had never conducted an interview and that I knew more about nuclear fusion than AP style meant that I had a lot of catching up to do.

Although full of ups and downs, my time at The Easterner has been both professionally rewarding and personally enriching. As the year progressed with interviews, meetings, midnight writing sessions to meet deadlines and a few late nights of copy-editing, my comfort zones eroded to the point of mere non-existence. This shy, small-town kid had run out of excuses, and had finally written something he could be proud of.

Through it all, my colleagues at The Easterner have earned my utmost respect. Any student who maintains a full credit load, and often a second job, while pouring their heart and soul into this paper each week deserves public recognition. Being surrounded by such a dedicated group of high-character individuals has only had a positive effect on me.

This whirlwind experience called a school year is ending, but as a lifelong sports fan, the opportunity to build relationships with coaches, players and members of the athletic department was like a dream come true. I'd like a moment to thank the people who have made that dream a reality. Thank you Chelsea Schilter, my editor-in-chief, for hiring me, Scott Davis and Taylor Reed, my sports editors, for believing in me, all of The Easterner's copy editors for putting up with me and all of our readers for their support.