By Amelia Kibbe
Advisory Editor
I sat down alone in The BV newsroom on a Tuesday night, planning to write my farewell editorial.
But first, I got up from the couch, walked over to the editor-in-chief’s computer and put “Uptown Girl” on at maximum volume.
After all, it didn’t quite feel like The BV without it playing in the background.
About a week ago, I began to look around the newsroom to collect the odd collection of my belongings that has accumulated over the years—a sweater I thought I’d lost, a 21st birthday card from my parents and, of course, a scattered collection of AP Style books.
“Jeez,” I said to myself. “It’s like I’ve moved in here.”
Then I paused.
“Well,” I said. “This place really is a second home for me.”
I remember excitedly grabbing a copy of the paper in September of 2013 and seeing my very first published work on the front page.
I quickly moved into a feature editorial position, and, despite my questionable skills at page designing, had moved onto the upper-management team by the middle of my sophomore year. There, I was able to work with other writers. Not only did I find a home for my incredibly intense love of grammar, but I discovered what I wanted to do as a career.
Although not always the easiest, I loved my semester as the paper’s editor-in-chief in the fall of 2015. As a freshman, I grabbed a paper every Friday morning, thrilled to see my byline. As a junior and in charge of the paper, I delivered the paper every Friday morning thrilled to be done for the week.
And I’ve loved all the memories in between. Moving to a new location in 2014. Helping create a sports quiz at 5 a.m. just to fill space on the pages. Celebrating my 21st birthday on a BV Wednesday. Demanding that “Uptown Girl” be played every night for the past two years.
But what I’ve loved more is the people I’ve gotten to know through my work at the paper.
Thank you to Dr. Lee, Professor Lee, Professor Vecchio, Dean Hoffmann and Dr. Wilkins for all your help over the last four years. Thank you to Professor McNall for encouraging me to become a journalism major and for everything you do advising the paper.
Thank you to Heather Monahan for assigning my fist first BV story, and to Emma Zaremba for working with me as your assignment editor.
Thank you to the feats team—Andrea Fernandes, Lauren Zazzara, Liam McGurl and Emmy Kolbe—for keeping features the best section at the paper.
Thank you to Taylor Nigrelli for always believing in me and to Diana McElfresh for stealing my signature editing color of purple.
Thank you to Harrison Leone for all the fun we had as an upper-management team and for putting up with me as your managing editor.
Thank you to Hannah Gordon for being an excellent managing editor to work with.
Thank you to Rachel Konieczny for being a great friend inside and outside of the newsroom, to Corey Krajewski for actually appreciating my comments on stories and to Julia Mericle for loving The BV more than humanly possible.
Thank you to Ethan Kibbe for being a great brother, fellow editor and better journalist than I’ll ever be.
Thank you to Lian Bunny for all our Tim Hortons runs, for all your help every semester and for being my BV friend from day one.
And finally, thank you to my parents who’ve read every article for every publication I’ve written for.
While I’m sad to leave the paper, I’m happy to know it will be in the capable hands of Dominic LoVallo.
In early March, I nervously sat across from a program director at Ohio University, where I will begin a journalism MS program in the fall, as she studied my resume.
Glancing up over her glasses at me, she said, “It looks like this Bona Venture newspaper was a huge part of your undergraduate career.”
“Yeah,” I replied, smiling. “Yeah, it really was.”
kibbeaa13@bonaventure.edu
