Author bio:
Nicolas Nardi is the 2025–26 Marketing Assistant for Mustang Media Group. When he’s not on the newsroom couch, he’s probably on a run, or convincing his friends to join him on one.
If you told me a year ago I’d be in tears over graduating college, I would’ve laughed in your face. I’ve always loved school, but I wanted nothing more than to get into the field and begin my career. That is, until I started my position as the MMG Marketing Assistant.
On my first day, I worked a booth at the Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market and ran into a friend who just transferred from the same community college I had a year prior. It wasn’t until then that I realized I was already halfway through my time at Cal Poly, and I spent the entire walk home in tears, absolutely hysterical.
I remember the day I read my acceptance letter from Cal Poly — March 13, 2024, just before 2 a.m. I was restless and couldn’t sleep, so naturally, I started scrolling through my phone. I felt an odd and sudden urge to check my email, and that’s when I saw it: a message from the admissions department reading, “Congratulations, Nicolas,” in the first line. It took everything in me not to freak out, because again, it was 2 a.m., but I did start sobbing immediately. Little did I know what the next two years would entail.
I won’t lie, my first year at Cal Poly wasn’t that exciting. I transferred from a community college in San Diego with virtually no friends on campus, and for those first few months, I felt completely out of place.
That was until I walked into the newsroom on my 21st birthday in February 2025.
Earlier that year, I worked on a project with Leila Touati, the graduating digital manager. Somehow, she heard it was my birthday and texted me to stop by. When I walked in, people I had never met were wishing me a happy birthday, and she handed me a card with the sweetest note.
I left the newsroom crying because, for the first time on this campus, I felt seen.
Come March, I was so excited to apply for MMG, and even more so when I found out I would receive my current position. Since then, I’ve gotten to work alongside the most supportive and hardworking organization I’ve ever seen.
To me, MMG is a community I haven’t experienced in quite some time, from the endless hours spent in coffee shops with friends to the afternoon group runs when we all get home from class.
If you know me, you’re probably surprised I waited this long to mention running. I ran my first two marathons in my junior year and thought that would be the hardest thing I’d ever do. Turns out, the hardest thing will be the day I walk out of the newsroom for the last time.
They say life is a marathon, not a sprint — if I can leave you with one piece of advice, it’s to be present for every minute. Every moment. When will we ever be in this position again, where we’re forced to see our friends nearly every day of the week?
Don’t spend your limited college years locked away in your room, as I did in the beginning. Say yes to the coffee run, the sunrise hike, the opportunity — even if you’re scared or uncertain, because it could just lead to the friendships of a lifetime.
So, dare I say, Mustang Media Group ruined my life, because now I know the value in finding something this meaningful.
Running marathons taught me to keep going, but MMG taught me why I wanted to.
And how could anything ever top that?