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Boone bound, but not without reminiscing of Charlotte

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Covering the 2013 Atlantic 10 Tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Covering the 2013 Atlantic 10 Tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Somewhere in the archives tucked away in a file cabinet in the middle of the Niner Times newsroom, there can be found my first-ever story written for the Niner Times.

I was asked at the last minute, on my second day working for the newspaper, to cover the first football signing day in the history of Charlotte athletics.

That was my first story in a newspaper. Seems so long ago, but yet feels like it was yesterday.

And now I’m leaving.

For almost two years, the Niner Times newsroom has been my second home. If I haven’t always been in the office on the bottom floor of the  Student Union, I’ve been attached to the people inside by either a Facebook message planning out content, or a simple Tweet asking where I was and why I wasn’t there. While this might sound like a burden for some, it wasn’t for me. My co-workers made me better. And that’s why I continued.

And now I’m leaving.

Starting in the fall, I’ll be walking the campus of Appalachian State University, pursuing a degree in journalism.

I’m not sure what I’ll be doing, or what I’ll be asked to do, but this feels like the right move. And sometimes you’ve got to go with your gut. What I do know, however, is that I’ll receive my journalism degree from Appalachian State.

And now I’m leaving.

Like almost every student at UNC Charlotte, I didn’t grow up pulling for the 49ers. But I lived close enough to know about the University and their basketball program which has seen some success through the years. And I never thought I would have the chance to cover them.

And now I’m leaving.

It’s the moments of talking to football players who haven’t stepped foot on campus, but know they’re joining something special that keeps you going.

It’s having lunch with the women’s basketball head coach, Cara Consuegra, to talk about the previous season and what the student newspaper could do the following season to spark additional interest. After all, we are the students’ voice.

It’s covering the men’s soccer team through a season where they were nationally-ranked all year and, once again, got folks to believe that they could make a run to the College Cup. If not this year, then the next.

It’s the feeling you get when Charlotte 49ers head football coach Brad Lambert knows you by name and asks how you are before the start of a press conference.

And it’s the feeling that comes when you pick up the paper in the morning, understanding all the work, and long hours spent at production, that went into getting it there.

These are the moments I’ll miss.

And now I’m leaving.

This will be a transition for me. And I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous or scared. But the same could have been said for when I enrolled at UNC Charlotte.

Just because I’ll now wear black and gold and call myself a Mountaineer, doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate everything that I have ever experienced at this University – I have.

My experiences and memories are what will help me carry on with a smile on my face, providing a sense of comfort in a world of uncertainty.

And now I’m leaving.


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