I’m going to go ahead and get the sappy cliches out of the way: All good things must come to an end. The end is just the start of another beginning. Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened.
There — now we’re ready to begin.
Although not uncommon, it will always fascinate me how for so many students, the “academic experience” is usually defined by one specific moment or thing. There’s the moment a student finally realizes his or her calling in life, discovers a new, lifelong passion or simply gets a brief glimpse of adulthood before actually entering adulthood. Whether through a club, class, professor or group of friends, so often we can look back and point to something that explains how we arrived where we currently are. And this phenomenon isn’t limited to college.
Experiences and people can shape your character — for better or worse. Choose your friends wisely.
I didn’t get to come to UF with any friends. I was alone from day one. I was commuting a two-hour round trip from home and never felt like I was truly a student or belonged anywhere on campus. But by the grace of God, I was given a moment I can now look back on that I consider one of the most defining moments of my time at UF.
While it may seem odd (it totally is) to attribute so much to one person, for me, any less would be an injustice.
I would not have made it to where I am at the Alligator — or worked here at all — without Emily Cochrane, this Fall’s editor-in-chief.
I never could have guessed the place I chose to sit in Introduction to Journalism the first day of freshman year (center aisle, sixth row back, third chair from the left) would impact me for the next four years. But it did. And it has.
That introverted, awkward guy who doesn’t talk to anyone? She introduced herself to me that first day of freshman year and never let me slink away ever since.
When thinking about what I was going to write in this goodbye column, I knew there was no reason to write about anything else. It’s because of Emily I’m writing one at all.
Emily Cochrane is the reason I started at the Alligator. In the midst of my kicking and screaming, she spurred me to do more and aim higher at this publication.
Semester after semester, working alongside her at the Alligator or on class projects, I was continuously inspired and frustrated by Emily’s sheer will and fervor for her craft. Her drive is contagious, and I’m blessed to have been around it for so long. I would be much worse off without it.
When I grow up, I want to be a journalist like Emily Cochrane.
My time at the Alligator and UF is capstoned by Emily’s incredible friendship and influence on me. It has been an honor to work under and alongside her. It’s impossible to say enough good things about Emily, but luckily there are many people who can. And I am just one of them.
So the next time you find yourself in class, sitting next to a stranger, don’t be like me. Introduce yourself. Make a new friend.
They might change your life.
Aaron Albright is a UF journalism senior. He is the current online managing editor of the Alligator.
