{"id":1483,"date":"2026-04-24T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/04\/24\/2026-04-24-my-first-editorial-part-two\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:10:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:10:26","slug":"2026-04-24-my-first-editorial-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/04\/24\/2026-04-24-my-first-editorial-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"My first editorial (part\u00a0two)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emily Fox<\/a> · Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Collegian\u2019s seniors: Mia Gallagher, Kathryna Hoyman, Emily Fox, John Remaniak and Tava Derr in front of Crawford Hall, home of their beloved office, \u201cThe Tower.\u201d \u2014 LUKE PAGLIA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My sophomore year, I wrote my first editorial about how I\u2019d been wrestling with misattributing my value to how successful I could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like most teenagers, I was conditioned to believe that unless I achieved superior grades, landed the highest paying job and rose through the rankings, I wasn\u2019t working hard enough. I was a cog in the efficiency machine, and it left me deeply unsatisfied and frustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my editorial, I concluded these standards were baseless, hopeless and meaningless in light of what the Lord has done for me. My value comes from the price He was willing to pay for me, and my work is made meaningful by who I do it for, not from professional commendations and a fancy title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remembered that editorial when I was thinking about my first week as editor-in-chief. I was full of energy, and I had endless plans to take the paper to the next level. But on the other side of it, I didn\u2019t do some of those things. Classes picked up, balancing my work for the paper and my homework was hard and the deadlines were harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was tempted to be discouraged and to once again feel like I hadn\u2019t done enough when I remembered that first editorial. The value of my time on The Collegian staff hasn\u2019t come from anything I\u2019ve done, but instead it\u2019s come from what the Lord has taught me through this experience, so I thought I\u2019d share a few of those lessons with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like to say I\u2019m the one who finishes the paper every Wednesday night, but more often than not, this paper finishes me. I\u2019ve spent an average of 16 hours a week working on The Collegian, and 14 of those hours are on Wednesday. Most weeks, InDesign fights me tooth and nail until 4:30 in the morning when I finally call it done and export the file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few hours later, I trudge back to Crawford Tower to polish it up and send the PDF off for printing. Then I do as much of my homework as I can in the 20 minutes I have left before I go to class, looking like some creature you\u2019d see in \u201cThe Walking Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The production timeline of The Collegian is not conducive to perfectionist tendencies. Often, I\u2019ve had to make sacrifices to deliver the final product to the stands; occasionally, that even means missing a class or assignment. Working on the paper has taught me that, contrary to what society tells us, we cannot do it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019ve learned to be okay with it because it forces me to remember my reliance on God, and He\u2019s carried me through each failure, frustration and tough day every single time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I confess on Friday mornings, I comb through the paper and look for missed commas, misaligned text and misspellings. The worst mistake I ever made was in our biggest issue of the year. I forgot to delete a giant textbox with a note I\u2019d left my advisor off the PDF in the Homecoming issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was horrified. I just about fired myself. But the fast-paced environment forced me to suck it up and move on. I didn\u2019t have time to wallow in self-pity. The next issue was coming out on Friday, and I had articles to write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This job taught me to be more comfortable with my mistakes, and as it turns out, though they broke my little perfectionist heart, mistakes aren\u2019t actually the end of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people I\u2019ve worked with changed me as much as the work. I\u2019ve been on staff with people from different backgrounds than mine and with views conflicting with mine. This experience was invaluable for me because I learned how to see the world from different perspectives, and I believe that I have a greater capacity for empathy because of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To return to my first editorial, the value of the past few years hasn\u2019t come from any recognized achievement: It comes from little interactions and inconveniences that have shaped me into the person that I am now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman who will walk across the commencement stage is not the same person who moved into MAP room 40 in 2022, and thank God for that. This person is more content with what she\u2019s been given and more confident in her own skin. Most importantly, she knows that if something is God\u2019s will, it will come to pass no matter how many mistakes she makes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, there are a couple people I\u2019d like to thank before I sign off as editor-in-chief:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I want to thank my roommates, Julianna Jacobs and Mackenzie Di Cello, for supporting me in every capacity over the past few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading the paper every week and cutting out all my editorials and hanging them on the fridge. You guys are the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to my boyfriend, Evan McCormick, for visiting me in the Tower each week for a much-needed brain break and for praying for me every Wednesday night. Thanks for being content to sit behind me offering moral support (and playing a little bit of chess) while I\u2019m agonizing over jump tags. I love you so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re all writers here, but I can\u2019t possibly put everything I\u2019ve learned from Nick Hildebrand into a few words. What I can say is that Nick\u2019s guidance has equipped me to leave and do whatever the Lord has in store for my career, which I think is the best confirmation of a job well done that a mentor can get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, my managing editor. What I\u2019ll remember the most about Kathryna is her joyful, servant heart. Kathryna\u2019s joy is the type that Paul writes about in Philippians: the kind that comes from knowing the Lord and that cannot be destroyed by mere circumstances. Kathryna was there for my toughest moments, and just being near her made the world a little less dark. I have never met anyone so patient and attuned to the needs of people around her. She looks for the Lord in all things, and her love for Him is evident in all she does. It has been my personal great joy to work with her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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