Travel fever has plagued me the last few months. I frequently wanted to sail away to another place, preferably at sunset, and never return. A plane would work too. The academic challenges, the amount of hours at The Chimes and stress this last semester have pushed me over the edge once or twice. However, I never went so far as to start fundraising for a sailboat or a plane ticket, much to my parents’ relief.

When I enrolled at Biola, I never actually intended to stay for this long. I came with expectations of having a good experience at a small, private, Christian school, per my mother’s request, and then leave after two years to transfer to a journalism school on the East Coast. I remember sitting in a circle on the grass outside Sutherland the first day of SOS and telling my group I would be transferring after two years, but “I liked Biola so far.” Little did I know, I would be leading a group of students as an SOS leader the next year. Within those first few months of being at Biola, somehow the campus enthralled me with me its brick buildings, olive lamps and cafe. I knew I was going to stay after three weeks.

But it really had nothing to do with the buildings, although I loved the campus. It was the people. It was the cheesy Biola community we all talk about, but it wasn’t cheesy at all. It was my roommates and floormates who I bonded with through late night Taco Bell runs, singing on our way to the cafe and impromptu dance parties. It was the news editor at The Chimes who, for some reason, let me start writing articles the first week. It was the RA who ‘lovingly’ told us what the quiet hours were by posting a large sign right outside our door. It was the people who told me it was okay when I realized halfway through freshman year I wasn’t sure if I was a Christian or not. (I am pretty sure now.) It was the same people who supported me then, that have continued to carry me through.

At the end of my freshman year, I sat in the McNally courtyard talking to the only journalism professor at the time, Dr. Tarpley. I told him I wanted to see The Chimes improve – the look, the design and the writing. Four years later, I am amazed because the paper looks nothing like it did my freshman year. Not to say it was not a great paper then, but every year the paper has successfully taken steps toward becoming a professional newspaper in service of the student body.

I do not know how many papers you have picked up this year or if you have been able to see the improvement I have seen, but know that The Chimes is here to serve you, and we thank you for your readership and the encouragement you have given us.

In the past year, the paper has not made steps, but strides. This would not have happened without the committed staff who sit in The Chimes office each week – sometimes until 5 a.m. Thursday morning, so you, the reader, can pick up a paper by lunch. Without the amazing group of people who put together the paper each week—who have continued to bless me—you would not be reading this because I would be sailing off into the sunset.

So when I sit at graduation in less than two weeks, I know my travel fever will be gone and it will be bitter to leave this place, but the sweet taste of four years’ worth of experiences and relationships will be imprinted on my life forever.