Growing up, I hated the news. It was all explosions, war and terror. It was all I grew up on and I didn’t want to read about it.
The first time I really read the news was when I wrote my first news story for The Aquinian. I had to figure out what news looked like, because I actually didn’t know what it was and I had a deadline.
But I wrote the story, and two painful hours of on-phone editing later, I had a publishable article with my name on it.
It went out, and I was hooked.
It’s simple and indisputable: The Aquinian helped me discover myself. When I moved to Canada at 17 from the United Arab Emirates, I was clueless. But I knew one thing, and it’s that I wanted to find my passion. It wasn’t until the second semester of second year that I knew journalism was my calling.
In my third year I was layout editor, and in my fourth I was editor-in-chief.
This is an outgoing EIC column not a memoir; I know I’m getting carried away. But I knew from the first issue that came out that the year I ran The Aquinian was going to be the most informative year of my life.
I’m incredibly lucky. I had the Best. Team. Ever.
Every editor was incredible. I was surrounded by people who cared about this little student paper, and did their best to accurately portray the student body. They made my job so easy, and truly made these 22 issues count.
I’m telling, not showing, but I need you to take my word for it: This year was irreplaceable.
We wrote about everything from an unprecedented student union presidential ballot recast, to what makes athletics an art. We had insightful features, quick breaking news and in-depth sports coverage.
I was, and still am, amazed by every single issue that came out. It wasn’t easy, but it was fun every step of the way.
This is the part where I get emotional, so I’ll end it here. I’d like to sincerely thank the student body for their engagement, for without your comments and letters all of this would have been for naught. Thank you to my team of editors, you’ve made this a cake walk and I don’t deserve you. And thank you to all the professors who helped us along the way.
I’d do this again in heart beat.
Sincerely,
Hadeel Ibrahim
PS: And yes mom, انا حصلت مال
