Author bio:
Carly is the News Editor for Mustang News for the 2025–26 year. She enjoys climbing, backpacking and ski touring in her free time and is a founding member of the MMG Run Club.
I keep waiting to cry before I start writing this. As if tear-stained paper is what I need to prove the depth of my commitment and connection to this organization. All that would do is tear the page when my pen inevitably crosses the soppy minefield I would have left behind. I do not need to cry, though. I have nothing left to prove.
What I do have are memories, every one from the past four years colored by the presence of The Organization in my life. Mustang News, that is. Although most people in my life would not need to guess to what I was referring. Every event from my time here has been viewed through its framework, its purpose or the people within it. Rather than clouding or crowding my view, Mustang News has clarified the way I move through my life and cemented the joy I feel toward the future I seek in local journalism.
I came here on the heels of burnout, entering with a lethargy I wish I had staved off. What precious time I wasted delaying stories, crafting excuses and pitching stories I knew I would never end up writing. But I was always finding my way back. And I found it.
I am very lucky. I love what I do. And I love the people I have been privileged enough to do it with.
It is an irreplaceable experience, college media. And, as I am sure most of these columns say, a fleeting one. We will all be destabilized. It is not the structure I will miss, it is the feeling that I am part of a whole and belong to something (yes, those are different feelings). I sense I will feel part of a whole in future jobs. But belonging like this feels rarer. And I am not sure I intend to replicate it, for fear my experience here could tarnish or be demoted to a lesser degree of belonging.
I have lived what feels like the full range of human emotion through the microcosm of this organization. I have cried equally from joy, pride, sadness and that one inexplicable kerfuffle in which the words rang too true in my heart.
Right now, in my mind, it is perfect.
As a child, I would go through phases. Quick, intense bursts of passion for things I discovered, before tiring of them and moving onto the next. It is part of the reason I am here studying journalism. Every day is different. My hope is to continue pushing myself forward so every year, every job brings renewed energy and fervor. Complacency is not an option.
As the dust settles, I look forward to following the journeys of my peers. Hoping for myself that it never settles on me for too long, lest I sneeze.
P.S. This column took exactly 16 repetitions of Veridis Quo by Daft Punk to write and self-edit.
