After countless hours of writing and editing, a digital portfolio full of clips, an editorship under my belt, and immeasurable practical experience, this last article may be the hardest task I have been assigned yet. As much as I consider myself a writer, my experience with The Cavalier Daily, fresh as it is, has yet to be interpreted in an articulate, succinct, tightly balled up manner that is easily translated onto paper. But, I’ll start somewhere.
Call me biased, but I will always believe The Cavalier Daily is the organization that attracts the most eclectic, intelligent and dedicated group of students at our University. There is more diversity among us than I’ve seen in any other one; the one single thing that brings us together — speaking for the editorial side — is merely a love for writing. A love for writing, editing, and telling stories, for reading, interpreting, and displaying — this is the glue that brings us together, and for many, the glue that permanently attaches us to the art.
When I walked into the office my first week at the University trying to gauge what sort of application process there was to join, I was immediately attracted to the enthusiasm of the then-news editors, and maybe more so attracted to the idea that there was no application process. Within a week I wrote my very own story, and my name was in print, on the front page. It was about a new drinking policy that James Madison University had enacted, or something. Regardless, with my little name stamped on that grainy big page, I was hooked.
I think the thing I love most about this organization is the tangible nature of its product. Granted I’ve always admired books, magazines, newspapers, etc. as material objects, but the feeling of going in late at night to check the headlines and photo captions of the Love Connection page knowing that your work will be on stands the following morning is rewarding unlike any other. At the newspaper, the schedule is what comes first, and the students come second. Deadlines are the bane of every writer’s existence, but are also the single most motivating factor for our performance. The timely requirements accompanying our jobs are stressful, but they lend to what our readers expect — consistency and reliability.
When you write an article for The Cav Daily, you are putting in a little bit of work for a lot of return. Free writing lessons, experience, another story to add to your portfolio, and invaluable knowledge about something you arguably might not have been interested in otherwise. At the end of the day, you can go home knowing that you completed a project that day, from start to finish, which is something most organizations can’t offer. As small or trivial that story may be, you know it is something that will be read by other people, even if it’s only your editors.
Classes are interesting, social life is really fun, but leave it to extracurriculars to connect you to the people who share the same professional and real-life interests — these are the relationships that will serve you not only during college, but afterwards as well. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people,” and this couldn’t be more true of the conversations in the Cavalier Daily office, most of which went over my head. The people who join never cease to amaze me, and its alumni network is one I am thrilled to be a part of because of the driven, successful personalities the paper has always attracted. I will always admire anyone who holds a Managing Board or Junior Board position, because the amount of dedication required is unparalleled to any other. These people are the skeleton, skin, organs and brains of the paper — everything except the decorative elements.
I have to thank this organization for introducing me to some of the Class of 2014’s most talented leaders who I probably would not have interacted with otherwise. I met my best friend through this newspaper, who today — three and a half years later — still stands by my side, provoking me and sharing with me the love for words, writing and logic. There’s no way of measuring how my interests or career prospects would have been different had I never decided to join staff, but I will always attribute them largely to it. And without space to continue, I’m brought back to where I started. Almost 800 words later and a tear in my eye, I haven’t even begun to do my experience justice through these words, but I hope somebody gets the picture. Congratulations to the class of 2014, and especially to those who shared the Cavalier Daily experience with me. Wahoowa.
Valerie Clemens was The Cavalier Daily’s 124th Life Editor.
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