As I look back on my time here at ACU and working on the Optimist, I can’t help but get sentimental. Sure, that might be the pre-finals sleep deprivation getting to me, but I am so blessed with all the life skills I’ve acquired through my time as editor. I can’t wait to share my talents with my future employers and with the world, but I’ll give you a sneak preview first:
- Balance
The stacks of fast food cups in my office, the pages on pages of notes I have from interviews over three years, carrying a laptop, three-plus books, coffee and a journal on my way to cover a story, and on chairs as I pinned up the latest pages to be edited.- finding that equilibrium was pivotal.
2. Good communication
Sometimes just telling a person to do something isn’t enough. Sometimes, you have to sit back from your office chair and yell out corrections as you make them because you have the story up, but they have the page up so you can’t open it, and you’re just minutes from deadline. Also, some people can function entirely without a need of words. Just the right look and slouch of the shoulders can convey “get me coffee or watch me wither.”
3. Creativity
Because a lot of people don’t take the print edition (explain yourselves, please), there’s a lot of left over papers. You want a very flammable and ink-stained throne? Tell me which arrangement you’d like, I got you.
4. Strength
Can lift and move up to 12 stacks of papers, 25 issues thick, in one trip. That’s all you need to know.
5. Heightened awareness of my surroundings
The sports editors took their job so seriously, you’d rarely find them without a racket, club or basketball in hand. The real problem began when some genius incorporated Nerf guns into the mix. Like, who thought that was a good idea? You could say safety was just a game at that point.
6. Flexibility
I’ve gotten really good at working late hours and nights. Or, really, not having a night at all. I’m also able to make myself feel at home anytime, anywhere. Seriously, the floor of the newsroom is a black hole. I have no idea how many unconscious hours I’ve spent curled up under a desk.
All in all, though, my resume is filled top to bottom with activities and internships I’ve completed thanks to the teachers and opportunities available to me here. It wasn’t always rainbows and butterflies, but my time as Editor In Chief has prepared me to go out and accurately face the professional world. Now, it’s just a matter of getting that job. Hopefully employers are impressed with my acquired talents.
