Editorial: Thank you and goodbye UCO

Staring at a blank page, the cursor flashing, almost as if it is yelling, “What are you going to type?”

That’s how every story starts. A blank page, a lone canvas, an empty void waiting to be filled with thoughts and ideas.

Even with thoughts established, the page still demands to know what comes next. That’s the theme of contemporary society; “What’s next?”

That’s also the thought at the forefront of every journalist’s mind. “What is next?”

It’s a question that will always remain unanswered because one never truly knows what events will follow, what the next chapter entails or what the future awaits.

It’s a question that I have battled with for the past academic year.

What’s next for my career? What’s next after school? What’s next for The Vista?

It’s all that has been on my mind since I stepped on campus in mid-August 2024 and was confronted with the reality that my advisor, mentor and friend, George Lang, would be leaving the University of Central Oklahoma for Florida. “What’s next?” was all I could seem to conjure up when I spoke with him.

While the past academic year has been challenging, being presented with new friendships and relationships, family problems and the occasional spat with one of my professors, whom I have now made up with (one day Mark Hanebutt and I will both learn to be less hard-headed), I have found that the adversity was the best thing I could have possibly faced. It forced me to come face-to-face with the unanswered question, “What’s next?”

However, I was not thinking about what came next for myself, only what came next for the very institution I would be leaving in a few short months. Having been handed a card that was less than ideal, I was determined to ensure that the same card was not handed to the next editor.

While Lang leaving posed quite a devastating blow to The Vista, I made him a promise that I will never forget.

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for The Vista.”

I meant it.

In the months that followed my promise to Lang, I would do everything in my power to ensure the success of The Vista, and in-turn ensure a broader success for both student-journalism and students in general on the UCO campus.

In my mind, the paper’s success this academic year meant further success down the line for future student journalists and editors.

That was my one goal, focusing on what is next for the institution.

I will leave it up to my professors, advisors and members of the UCO community to decide if I was successful in that mission or not, but the intent was pure and sought nothing but to serve the community that helped me grow.

Now, as I am set to walk the stage on May 10 and shake hands with UCO President Todd Lamb, receiving a diploma I have spent four years working on, three of which were spent on The Vista in some capacity, I find myself asking the same question again; “What’s next?”

Once again, I am faced with a blank page, the cursor yelling at me, the question in the forefront of my mind yelling, “What are you going to type?”

There is no answer yet. All there is, is a question.

“What’s next?”

Before I sign off on my melodramatic, preachy editorial, I would like to thank members of the UCO community for their help in my career.

To my professors in MCOM, Mark Hanebutt, Mark Zimmerman, Joe Hight, Erika Williams, Mark Scott, Milos Ajdinovic and David Nelson, thank you for your support, wisdom, critiques and willingness to teach. I appreciate you all. I also would like to thank former MCOM professor, Desiree Hill. While I was not working with her for long, she played a significant role in the development of my career, as well.

Thank you to George Lang, who has been not only a great advisor and mentor, but a great friend too.

Thank you to all faculty, staff and students who I have interacted with throughout the course of my time at UCO, whether that be in the Gen Ed classes I took as a freshman or through various interviews, stories and other works with The Vista.

And finally, thank you to the UCO community as a whole. It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve this campus community as the editor-in-chief of The Vista.