Edward Sztukowski

Tada.

I did it. Did it in four years. And those four years flew by faster than I had expected them to.

It’s been a wild, wild ride, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little upset that it’s coming to a close.

All I can say is that I enjoyed every bit of it, and I’ve met a lot of really cool people who’ve made my stay at Appalachian State University the best it could be.

So much of college is just being exposed to new and exciting things, and that needs to be taken advantage of. My time here went by so numbingly fast, it’s hard to imagine freshman year as four years ago. It’s even stranger looking back at pictures of me then, with short, buzzed hair and a clean-shaven face, compared to now. Beer and pizza take a few years to catch up to you, but rest assured, I look much older now.

But I survived that, and still hang out with many of those friends I made freshman year. In fact, my entire apartment complex is almost like the LLC 2.0.

Boone needs to be explored to appreciate the area. For a quiet mountain town, there are some awesome restaurants (I love Cha da Thai and Black Cat), and great views and environments.

Once it warms up, swimming is an option. There aren’t too many things more enjoyable than laying out on a rock all day, getting super hot, and jumping into a cold mountain stream. For beginners, I would suggest hanging out at The Dam and Snake Pit, though it seems to get more crowded each year.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a gem to be treasured. I didn’t do much hiking or exploring until my junior year, and I regret it. Instead of lying around all day sleeping off the previous night, wake up early and go for a hike. In the long run, the memories you’ll build will be so satisfying; you won’t feel like you wasted a week.

I wouldn’t have the opportunity to reminisce to everyone about these things without The Appalachian.

My sophomore year I joined forces with a number of “Wataugans” and began writing for an alternative campus newspaper called The Magpie. Like many new publications, it didn’t survive, but was a nice stepping-stone for me into the world of journalism. At the suggestion of my good friend and roommate Holt Menzies, I applied for The Appalachian late in the year and was hired. I thank and curse him for involving me in something that has sucked up my life so completely.

The Appalachian catches a lot of flak around campus for some reason. I hear a lot of things about grammatical mistakes, factual errors and “bad” writing from people who are reading a paper from two months ago.

To these people: actually read the paper before you even think about deciding how “bad” it is. The amount of work and effort that goes into producing a twice-weekly paper while attending classes is staggering.

A lot of people think we get talking points from the university; this is also untrue. I know, because for the last year I’ve personally had to come up with a number of story ideas for the news section, and it’s extremely rare when a story simply lands in your lap.

This year has been particularly challenging. A number of student deaths last semester made life more stressful than normal, but I’m glad we were able to provide fitting articles in memory of those students.

To next year’s staff: Good luck and have fun. I’ve never been bored writing for The Appalachian, it’s one of those jobs that changes on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis.

One minute you’re covering a town meeting, the next minute you’re running down to the courthouse to report on a bomb threat. It’s an ever-changing job position, and I’ve had a blast doing it.

There are a number of people I’d like to thank for giving me a great college experience. Unfortunately, if I named every person who has affected my life in the past four years, I would probably fill up all eight pages of this paper. Beware, some inside jokes are contained in the following lines.

So to summarize briefly, I’d like to thank all of the Wataugans I spent my first two years living with.

You’re all insane, but in the good way. I’d especially like to give thanks to all my roommates I’ve had, many of whom I have lived with or around for a few years now.

Staff members of The Appalachian, you are awesome. Especially the news desk.

The following professors have also been awesome, some riotously so: Bud Gerber (You were the best professor I had, I truly enjoyed all the classes I took with you), David Huntley (You greatly increased my appreciation for the Beats), Kris and Mariam Willis (You were both wonderful, sorry to see you leave), Larry Taylor (If I could drop shadow this, I would), Calvin Hall (I’ll never make an AP style mistake for e-mail again), Jeff Cloninger (The golden mean!), Michelle Surerus (I could make a flexo plate in my sleep now), and Leon Lewis (French surrealism is about as surreal as you could get).

To a certain former cartoonist…craw?

And of course to me ma and pa, without whom I wouldn’t even be here!

So thanks for the great memories everyone, I have some new ones to make now. It’s a little scary, but I think I’m ready.

Edward Sztukowski, a graduating senior journalism major from Chapel Hill, is the news editor.