I wrote my first article for the S&B in September of 2019, my first year at Grinnell. It was a short, rudimentary story about the annual Kites Over Grinnell event — not a particularly noteworthy piece of journalism by any stretch of the imagination. Reading it today, I cringe at my writing of three years ago, which appears silly, peppered with awkwardly constructed sentences and obtuse vocabulary. Yet this feeling of discomfort is accented by a sense of genuine accomplishment. I feel proud of my growth — as a writer, researcher and member of the Grinnell community — between writing that first piece and writing this reflection prior to graduation. The naïve anxiety which accompanied my early assignments for the paper is nothing but a distant memory, replaced by confident willingness to interview, research and construct stories to be shared with others.

I am grateful for my time at the S&B, and the many opportunities which it has afforded me, though I cannot credit it with this growth. I have worked at the paper for only a fraction of my time at Grinnell, writing freelance my first year before returning as a staff writer last fall. In the two intervening years many things have changed drastically, and the world became virtually unrecognizable. One of the most profound changes during this period of my life was an awakening interest in reading and studying literature. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to major in English, but I struggled to maintain any sort of rigor in my reading — both personally and academically. Then, in the summer of 2020 when most of the world closed, everything changed. I poured myself into as many books as I could get my hands on, progressing at a voracious pace and starting with an unadventurous assortment of “classics” before moving on to a diverse array of authors, genres and literary styles from different time periods around the world. This passion had the most profound influence on my writing, teaching me what style I gravitate towards, how I want my own words to sound, and what makes a story significant.

Now reflecting on my time at the S&B, faced with the difference between myself now and first year, I see a happier, much more confident, engaged and capable person. I attribute this to finding something which I am passionate about and then pursuing that to the fullest. I hope everyone graduating now and in the years to come can have a similar experience, finding what matters most to them and using that to grow — at Grinnell and beyond.