Freshman-year me thought it was so cool that UF had a student-run newspaper.
Freshman-year me wondered if I would ever write for it.
Fast-forward three and a half years, and here I am, spending 30+ hours a week at the Alligator.
How did I get here, and how is it over already?
I started working at the Alligator last Spring as a copy editor.
My first shift was a blur.
It was the most fun I’d ever had working, and it was where I learned that this is what I want to do for a living.
My last shift will also probably be a different kind of blur: involving a lot of tears and the feeling that graduation is really happening.
This semester, my job involved a lot of uploading stories to the website, writing headlines that made you (or Google) want to read them and late-late nights in the office.
As a soon-to-be grad and a journalism major, I’m used to hearing the usual stress-inducing questions.
“Do you have anything lined up after graduation?”
“Are you still a journalism major?”
“Just because your degree is in journalism doesn’t mean you have to do it for a living.”
I made my friends here, and I started my career here.
UF gave me my education, but the Alligator shaped me as a journalist.
There are things I’ll really, really miss — like laughing hysterically in our daily budget meetings, struggling to do simple math (even with a calculator) and driving home from work at 2 a.m., when it’s just me, Gainesville Police cars and taxis driving people home from Midtown.
I’ll miss going to Checkers after work and coming back to the office to sit in the parking lot and unwind with my closest friends.
(Really, this is our idea of a party.)
I’ll remember the craziest night of journalism I’ve experienced, huddled over a writer’s computer screen, copy editing our front-page Tiffany Sessions story with three other editors on deadline — the best damn coverage I read, by the way.
When and where else do you get the chance to make a newspaper every day and love nearly every minute of it?
Sure, this ‘70s frat house building could use some new carpeting, chairs and walls. And computers. And desks. (We lost three chairs in one week this semester — RIP.)
Yes, a faster Internet connection would be nice.
But how much does all of that really matter? We’re scrappy, and I love it.
It’ll be hard to match this experience, but I’m not worried.
I know we’ll all cross paths soon enough.
[Katherine Kallergis is a graduating UF journalism senior and the Alligator’s online managing editor. A version of this column ran on page 7 on 4/23/2014 under the headline "Online editor asks: How did I get here, and how is everything over already?"]
