SENIOR GOODBYES

from The Lumberjack -- April 28, 2023

NAU sports media: growing the brand

BY ALEXIS BEAMAN

Taylor Schwartz-Olson

Ihave wanted to be a journalist ever since I was a freshman in high school. When I first started at NAU, I was more interested in photojournalism than traditional journalism. During the second semester of my freshman year, I started taking photos for The Lumberjack That was cut short by the start of the pandemic, however. After that, with sophomore year being fully online, I took a break from the paper. My junior year, I decided to try writing, but I felt a little intimidated, so I decided to start in the culture section.

I enjoyed covering events for the culture section, and it helped me learn the basics.

After that, I moved on to news, where I first worked as a writer and then news editor.

During my time at The Lumberjack, I not only gained experience as a writer and editor, but I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and got a chance to work with a special group of talented people — including writers, editors and photographers — who taught me a lot. I know everyone I worked with is going to go far and exceed in whatever comes next.

I’m excited to see what everyone else will do after graduation and what career or life path they will go down.

Working for The Lumberjack was my first real chance to fulfill my dream of becoming a journalist that I have had for almost eight years now. It wasn’t just a job, though. Out of all the students at NAU, the paper is a small group of people that share my passion for journalism, which made it special. My only regret is that I didn’t join sooner and get to spend more time with the paper. I wish I would have gone for it rather than feeling worried that I wouldn’t do well enough. Wherever I end up after graduation, I will always look back at The Lumberjack as my first journalism “job” and use everything I was taught.

ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIS BEAMAN

Halli Smith

Fifty one years ago, Jim Croce released his third studio album, “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim,” aptly named after one of the three featured singles. The eighth track on the album, “Time in a Bottle,” features the lyrics, “...there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them.” As I approach my college graduation, Croce’s words couldn’t ring more true.

When I got accepted to NAU in 2019, I was beside myself with excitement. I wanted to learn everything about anything. I originally wanted to study journalism, but changed my major to communication.

I was apprehensive at first, but my introductory communication classes lit a fire within my chest cavity. I felt an immovable passion when I sat in a lecture hall, surrounded by people who studied the same things I did. I declared a minor in creative media and film. I was studying things that lifted my soul. Then, in March 2020, NAU students got an email that changed college life.

The beginning of the pandemic marked the end of my freshman year, cutting it two months short as everyone traveled home to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

I was a college freshman who had just gained a sense of independence and I was suddenly ripped from my environment of learning and opportunity. The pandemic was a major setback for most college students I know. The transition to online learning was difficult, and for a little over a year, I was discouraged. I didn’t know when, if ever, I would be back to the tiny mountain town that encompassed everything I was passionate about.

My sophomore year was stagnant and characterized by dialog boxes and Zoom links. The only reprieve I found from the mundanity was in a daily Einstein’s bagel.

Then, during my junior year of college, as the world began to open up, I found KJACK Radio. Up until that point, I wasn’t even aware NAU had a college radio station. I joined the promotions department, and I felt the kindlings in my chest ignite again. I learned how to broadcast music live on air. I made connections with people who cared about music in the same way I did. Growing up as a military kid, my environment regularly changed. I never stayed in one place for too long. Music, however, was a constant. My mom taught me to love music with everything in me.

As a kid, I remember sitting in the back of my mom’s car, watching the world whip past me through the window while she sang along to her favorite artists, who inevitably became mine. I was raised on the musical stylings of Jimmy Eat World, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fiona Apple, Fleetwood Mac, Alanis Morisette, Led Zeppelin and Jim Croce. These were the musicians that provided the soundtrack to my childhood. They gave all my emotions a name and melody.

When I joined KJACK Radio, those emotions flew free, and the sense of community and belonging I felt during my freshman year returned. My passion for music resurfaced in a big way. I had a voice again.

I followed that voice to The Lumberjack I started out writing culture pieces last semester and enjoyed it so much that I decided to try my hand at being an editor. My position as an assistant opinion editor this semester has taught me so much.

I am forever grateful to The Lumberjack for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow, both as a writer and a student.

As I prepare to leave NAU, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I’m leaving KJACK Radio as a promotions manager and The Lumberjack as an assistant editor, and I am forever indebted to the people I’ve met along the way who helped me gain my footing. These past two years of my college experience have impacted me in an immeasurable way. There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want once you find them, so I’m off to find more things. I don’t know where I’ll end up next, but I know that wherever I go, I’ll be prepared.

Megan Ford-Fyffe

Ijoined The Lumberjack as a freshman during my first week at NAU when I walked into the Media Innovation Center Open House on a whim. I told them I was interested in photography and they sent me over to talk to then-Assistant Director of Photography Bess Baldez to sign up for the class on the spot. Here I am today as director of photography, about to graduate college with a photography degree and a minor in creative media and film.

I believe my time at The Lumberjack has been the most rewarding experience I have had in my college career. I learned an extravagant amount about photography through hands-on experience covering stories as a photojournalist each week. I also learned a great amount from my peers on the photo staff who all had different interests and backgrounds in photography. Little tips I picked up over the years, such as don’t ever manipulate a photo, get different angles, get a variety of shots, know your camera gear and watch your corners, have made me a significantly better photographer. It may sound crazy to nonphotographers, but I also analyze light everywhere I go and recognize how it can change the meaning of a photo. Skills like this have taken years of practice I will always be grateful for. The experience I gained as a leader here has also been extremely beneficial. I needed to problem-solve, communicate with multiple teams, distribute tasks and teach lessons weekly. I have learned through this experience that I thoroughly enjoy working with a team rather than alone, which is helpful when choosing a career path. I have also learned how satisfying it feels to teach others and see the information impact them.

My love for documenting authentic moments out in the real world rather than photographing posed people in a studio was ignited by my experience at the paper. Using my camera to tell stories became my favorite way to experience life. It makes me notice more details about a scene and appreciate humanity more than ever. I would much rather attend an event with my camera and a press pass than as a guest in a crowd.

Thanks to my involvement in The Lumberjack, I plan to continue documenting life for my future career as a photojournalist or travel photographer, as I meet new people and find new stories to tell. My experience here has helped me create a diverse portfolio of work and has ingrained photojournalism ethics into my brain. I am indebted to the connections I made and the skills I obtained working as a photojournalist for my school newspaper.

Lydia Nelson

From high school yearbook kid to college newspaper kid, I didn’t take the path to get where I am today quite like I expected.

My yearbook kid roots catapulted me to the trajectory I am currently on. I fell in love with Adobe InDesign from day one and knew I wanted to continue that path. I remember touring NAU, passing by the School of Communication and hearing them mention The Lumberjack The yearbook kid in me got excited – page layout, photography and storytelling is everything I dreamed about.

When I got to NAU, I almost immediately changed my major from journalism to strategic communication; then the pandemic hit and classes were moved online. My excitement for joining the newspaper quickly faded.

It took until my junior year when classes returned to in-person for me to pique an interest in joining The Lumberjack. In spring 2022, they were looking for a director of marketing and I was looking for more social media experience. I applied and got the position; little did I know I got so much more.

I gained experience that I would never get in other classes, but I also gained friends and community.

I was a junior at this point and had never stepped foot into the Media Innovation Center (MIC). After joining The Lumberjack I soon became a MIC regular. It is the place I go between classes, where I hide inside from the snow and my favorite place to see a friendly face on campus. The MIC is full of passionate and motivated individuals who I look up to every day. Without them, I would not have been able to get where I am today. Surrounding myself with those who inspire me has pushed me further and allowed me to see more potential in myself.

Working together we were able to make a lasting impression on the newspaper and make impacts on both the NAU and Flagstaff communities. Getting the newspaper printed was something that seemed impossible when we first started.

When I got the position at The Lumberjack — like all my major life updates — I immediately told my grandma. She told me “Wow, next thing we know you’ll be the president of the university.”

Now, I hate to break it to you, but this is not my presidential announcement.

While I initially laughed off my grandma’s text, she was right. I may not be the president of the university but I got further than I ever thought I could.

Marian Hernandez

When I first came to Flagstaff in 2019, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. With my exploratory major, I was weaving in and out of courses I thought I would enjoy. When I finally landed on journalism and political science, COVID-19 had forced my college experience to take an unexpected turn as I completed an entire school year remotely.

Coming back in August 2021, everything felt so foreign to me. I was a different person from the one who left NAU in May 2020. As I was navigating feeling unfamiliar in a place that was once familiar, I decided to take the process slowly and simply focus on my classes.

It wasn’t until I was walking the halls of the School of Communication when my eyes caught a flyer of a writing course being offered in England in summer 2022. Little did I know this would be the start of my journey with The Lumberjack Learning the ins and outs of working for a publication with other journalism students (who I knew almost nothing about) in a country I had never been to (because I had never left the continent) was an experience in itself. But, for some reason, it felt fitting to how I go about things in my own life — on a whim and unaware of what the opportunity would entail.

The following semester I returned to The Lumberjack as a features writer before I started my final position at the paper, assistant culture editor. Both of these roles, for me, were learning experiences filled with trials and tribulations as I was trying to figure out who I wanted to be, especially as a journalist. Even now, I’m still not sure who that person is.

Here I am — four years later — and I still don’t know what I’m doing. But at least my time at The Lumberjack brought me memories I can always look back on. From being able to travel to a foreign country to learning to work with a team of talented students, these opportunities wouldn’t have been possible without The Lumberjack I might not know where I’ll be another four years from now but I’m ready to end this chapter of my life and find out.

Amirah Rogers

As my quick four years at NAU come to a close, I am reflecting on my time in college. Starting in 2019, I see how much I have changed and grown. As my freshman year was before COVID-19, life was much different. I spent lots of time on campus and was involved in various activities. When the pandemic hit, my time on campus was decreasing immensely due to having online classes and lack of event attendance. When in person classes started back up again for my junior year, feelings of disconnection were settling in for me. I was beginning to feel as though I had lost a connection to NAU.

In one of my junior year strategic communication courses, it was brought to my class’s attention that The Lumberjack was hiring a director of social media. At first I was intimidated by the opportunity and convinced myself I should not apply. After some thought, I realized I really wanted to be a part of something on campus and more specifically, something communications related.

Applying to work for The Lumberjack has changed my NAU experience for the better. I was able to meet new people, become more involved in local events and gain experience that will help me after I graduate.

I am certainly not a journalist, so I was excited that I could contribute to the paper without having to write stories. I have learned so much about NAU and Flagstaff from working at The Lumberjack This experience allowed me to feel more comfortable on campus and in the School of Communication.

I switched my major to strategic communications during the time of online school so I came back to campus feeling new again. The feelings of unfamiliarity were definitely heightened. Starting my journey at the paper was scary, but I have to thank everyone on the staff for making me feel welcomed and included. My favorite thing about The Lumberjack is that there is a place for just about everyone. I like that there are numerous ways people can showcase their skills and practice their hobbies. This aspect of the paper is what makes it so enjoyable. It was inspiring to see people be so talented at what they do. I have caught myself picking up on things I would have never thought about or noticed before — simply because I am soaking up details from all of these talented people.

I am very appreciative that I was able to work at The Lumberjack for a full year. I am still in shock that this point in my life is quickly approaching, but I am eternally grateful for my time at The Lumberjack and NAU.

Emily Gerdes

My letter from the editor last semester started with me explaining how shocked I was at how hard my senior year was going. At this point, I’m shocked at how easy my senior year is going. What a difference a few months makes!

As I came into the role as editor-inchief (EIC) at The Lumberjack I thought I wouldn’t have enough time to dedicate to the role. Little did I know the second semester of my senior year would be the absolute easiest.

I specifically remember walking back into the Media Innovation Center (MIC) after summer break in 2022 and I felt something resembling a weight on my shoulders disappear the minute I entered the room. I felt happy and excited. I was going back to doing what I love with my friends right next to me.

For the first time in college, I don’t have back-to-back meetings, I go home during daylight hours, I have time to make lunch and dinner each and every day and on top of all that I dedicate time to myself. Now that is a magical feeling. I have been able to enjoy my remaining time at NAU and The Lumberjack

As most people know, I’m very nostalgic. I have so much fun exploring The Lumberjack archive room and printing behind-the-scenes photos of The Lumberjack staff to make a photo gallery wall. I like looking back on who was on staff two years ago and the silly little memories we have while working overtime on the weekends.

The Lumberjack has given me so much and I am eternally grateful. I have met friends I will know for the rest of my life. The MIC has allowed me to network with professors who provide me with guidance and advice that have allowed me to jump outside my comfort zone.

Without this newspaper, I wouldn’t have been able to study abroad in England where I conducted interviews and wrote multiple journalistic pieces in a foreign country. That trip is something I wouldn’t give up for the world.

The domino effect of how life plays out is one of the most fascinating aspects of life to me. During freshman year, the second person I ever met at NAU was Camille Sipple. It was a pure coincidence too. A friend I met only a few hours before and I walked into a random lounge in the Honors College looking for friends and Camille was sitting there reading a book. We asked if she wanted to join us and the rest is history.

A few weeks later, we attended the MIC Open House together and talked to a few faculty members about joining the MIC organizations. I didn’t have the time in my schedule at that point to join another group but the thought never left my mind.

Camille and I became good friends throughout that first year with weekly family dinner nights and attending Prochnow movie nights hosted by SUN Entertainment together, but during lockdown we grew apart. When I joined the paper in-person during the fall semester of 2021, we quickly caught up and have been inseparable ever since. We have traveled all around Arizona together and went on the England study abroad trip together. We like each other so much we even decided to spend an extra week after our trip finished and explored Scotland too.

Last semester Camille became EIC for The Lumberjack a position I now have the privilege of possessing. On April 10, Camille attended my Gold Axe Award Ceremony as one of my closest friends and I think that is a pretty cool change from us being two lonely and lost freshmen in the Honors College.

If you told those two young girls who were basically strangers, they would both become EIC of the newspaper and best friends in just three years, I’m not sure they would have believed you.

I have a million more little stories like that to tell about the friends and found family I have acquired while being at the paper, but it is time for me to move on and find a new place I can call home.

Hannah Elsmore

To be frank with you, if you told Hannah two years ago that I was graduating college with a degree in journalism — she would absolutely not believe you.

When I was in high school, I thought I had it all figured out. I held high standards for myself, and I thought school was everything. I remember feeling embarrassed for committing to a small state school in Arizona, rather than some big Ivy League university.

However, looking back on my college experience now, there isn’t a single thing I would change. Flagstaff has quickly become the place I call home — and it is just as quickly becoming a place I will no longer call home.

Every choice I made in the past four years has culminated to form this moment in time. Every small decision I have surpassed has affected my current version of myself. One huge decision I made two years ago was to join The Lumberjack

Reflecting on this choice, I realized how easily I could have completely missed this amazing opportunity. If I hadn’t thought to give a new major a try, if I hadn’t answered one simple email, who would I be today?

The friendships I have formed through the newspaper have altered my life forever. I am so grateful for the compassion my peers have treated me with. When I arrived at the Media Innovation Center (MIC) for the first time, I was scared of how everyone would treat me — a junior who just changed her major and had no clue what she was doing. However, when I struggled, I was met with kindness and support from my peers. I am so grateful for this.

When I first entered the MIC, I was like a small flower that needed water and sunlight to grow. My Lumberjack peers, my coworkers and now my friends, they saw me for what I could become, not just who I was when I first joined.

I feel nurtured by my experience with the newspaper, I was allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. I was held to high standards, and I am so thankful that my peers saw my potential when I couldn’t see it myself.

Now, two years later, I am confident when I say I have blossomed into a version of myself I didn’t know could exist. As I have grown, I carry pieces of every person that has helped me reach this point. I am thankful for every learning curve, every mistake and every moment I have spent working for The Lumberjack

I am unsure where the future will take me, but I am going into it with a level of confidence I have never had before. I am not religious, but I do feel something special guided me to The Lumberjack just when I needed it. It is so bittersweet, but I am ready to turn the next page in my life.

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