Greetings, Reader!
I have been involved in the Exponent since the end of my freshman year, after then-general reporter Kaz Bresnan practically forced me to attend a production night in Warner Hall because they needed someone to fill the Social Media Manager position. I believe it was the Raven, Spring 2023 edition of the Exponent. Since then, I have worn many hats and have written way too many stories.
I started off as a copyeditor, assisting the production crew make sure that their pages look perfect with no errors in spelling or grammar. Perhaps us copyeditors were not the speediest—most people in the Exponent preferred to hang around in ex-advisor Pip Gordon’s office and chat—making some layout editors wait over an hour for a completed page. Kaz nominated me for the Social Media Manager position that semester, and I got the job the following school year.
My time as Social Media Manager was not super memorable; I hit the ground running that school year, posting stories to our website, Facebook and Instagram. After passing the torch to current Social Media Manager Isabelle Emerson, I took over as the Chief Copy Editor for this past school year. I have enjoyed this position quite a bit; it has allowed me to work a bit more closely with our current advisor David Gillota as well as give me back my free time on Wednesday nights because I no longer have to spend two hours uploading every single story to the website.
Besides my normal duties, I also dabbled in layout editing, news writing and even graphics editing (usually for the Antagonist). Through all these roles—official and unofficial—I’ve come to deeply appreciate all the precious moments I spent in the office, and I am sure I will remember my time here long after I am gone.
I am so happy to have had this opportunity to work with such amazing people: my best friend, ex-roommate and boss Kaz Bresnan, my current roommate Abigail Shimniok and every other wonderful member of the Exponent during the time of my stay.
As I am preparing to leave, I want to say thank you. Not just to the Exponent, but to all the memories it created. This little newspaper taught me how to care about the details, how to collaborate with wildly talented people and how to find humor even in the most chaotic production nights. It’s hard to imagine college without the late nights in Warner Hall and Pioneer Tower, the copyediting debates or the thrill of seeing a fresh issue in the stands. I’ll miss it all more than I can say.
Sincerely, Nat Poeschel