“The moment I have been anticipating since the very first day of my freshman semester is finally near; my undergraduate studies at the University of Akron will officially conclude May 9 after I walk across the stage at graduation. While I am more than prepared to move onto the next level of my life, I must say that I will always remember the time I spent here at the university, as well as my tenure as a writer at the Buchtelite.”
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The moment I have been anticipating since the very first day of my freshman semester is finally near; my undergraduate studies at the University of Akron will officially conclude May 9 after I walk across the stage at graduation.

While I am more than prepared to move onto the next level of my life, I must say that I will always remember the time I spent here at the university, as well as my tenure as a writer at the Buchtelite.

I have grown so much both as a creative intellectual and also as a journalist in the past three years and everything I have learned and experienced here at the university has molded me into the person I am today.

When I first started writing for the Buchtelite, I was completely intent on focusing on topics that only I and maybe a couple of other members of the student body remotely cared about or had interest in.

My first article for the paper was a piece on the haute couture collections in Paris and, looking back, the choice of focusing on something so foreign and irrelevant to 20-something Midwestern college students was beyond silly of me.

Though my articles became more and more relatable, I still wasn’t necessarily tapping into what students wanted or cared about. It wasn’t until this semester, when I began working in the Buchtelite office as a copy editor, that I finally realized that I needed to incorporate the student body into my work.

In this modern information age, fashion is available to everyone, even us Northeastern Ohioans. With the Internet and stores like H&M, fashion has become democratized and everyone and anyone has the access and ability to be fashion forward.

Watching people on campus day to day, I noticed that there are some very stylish students at the university who consciously put effort into the way they look. I wanted to recognize these students and, thus, Style File was born.

Interviewing students and doing mini-photo shoots with them has been such a blast for me. I spent endless hours this semester standing around campus waiting and watching for the perfect students to feature and I am very proud of the photos and interviews I was able to capture from the chosen candidates.

I am also extremely delighted that I was able to include members of the student body into the Buchtelite in such a fun and interesting way.

Each and every one of the students I featured was very flattered and humbled to be handpicked to become UA style stars and showcase their own sartorial sense.

Judging from the many compliments I received from both students and faculty, Style File was a great success and I am so thankful to have been part of such an enjoyable ongoing adventure.

My experience both training my eye for true innate style and also staging photo shoots are two skills that will surely aid me in my future as I pursue a career as a fashion journalist.

I have been accepted to attend NYU in the fall and hope that my time there will bring me closer to my career goals.

One day, I would love to be an editor at a top fashion magazine and I believe that my time at the University of Akron and the Buchtelite has certainly prepared me, in some capacity, as I move onto the next phase of my life.

No matter where I go and what I achieve in the future, I will never forget the people I have met around campus and the lessons I have learned in the past three years.

One of the most important ideologies I have come to embrace is the notion that with a lot of hard work and belief in oneself, anything is possible.

My dreams are coming true, and I believe anyone can achieve and succeed if he or she puts his or her mind to it. We are all human beings capable of great accomplishments and with enough endurance, strength and confidence, we can all change the world, one person, one family, one community, one country at a time.

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