After being approached and asked to write a piece for the final printing of The Lamp newspaper, I felt a flood of varying emotions. The first was excitement being asked to contribute followed by a level of uncomfortable eagerness I haven’t felt for years. That quickly turned into stomach knots and clammy-hands from the associated stress and anxiety of deadlines, editors and ultimately – you, the readers.

For me, that was always the price of finishing a well-constructed piece worthy of printing and distributing. While the cost never changed, the topics of conversation certainly did and so did my willingness to pay that price. Every contribution I subsequently crafted became increasingly deeper and better articulated. Prior to all of this, I was mostly passive out of concern of saying the wrong things at the worst times, or maybe people would over-analyze them and think me uniformed or uneducated. Turns out my voice wasn’t as alone as I thought it was and writing gave me a confidence in myself to break through that thought process. I found myself writing these pieces that were important to me and moved me, taking stands about things that I wouldn’t have even found myself writing these pieces that were important to me and moved me, taking stands about things that I wouldn’t have even involved myself in otherwise. While I thought I had found a “blowoff class/easy credit” in Journalism 101, what I actually I found was a great teacher who constantly challenged me to be better and that it was okay to feel how I felt, but to put that to paper and let the world hear it. But most importantly, I learned that while people may not necessarily agree with me, my viewpoints were still very valuable for all sides of the topic to hear.

Writing for the college newspaper helped me better understand myself and the world I was actively experiencing from my viewpoint. I would love to tell you that The Lamp molded me into some amazing award-winning journalist making the big bucks somewhere- but instead I can tell you it was absolutely responsible for lighting a fire in me that maybe never would have ignited otherwise. And while it does sadden me that The Lamp won’t be printed anymore as the newspaper goes all digital, I have a renewed faith in its unintended function that there will be an almost endless supply of brilliant minds being given a platform to shout their truths from the mountain tops, or at least the library or computer lab.