People with similar interests are just a stone’s throw away

Tonight, I sit in a fluorescent-lit office in the basement of the Campus Center, staring at a screen of letters and numbers arranged on a page. I slowly look at the built in clock on the iMac and find out it is near 3 a.m. Deadline’s in three hours. I look around me and wonder how the 10 other people in the room can handle such work.

This is the life of a Flat Hatter, a reporter, an editor, a constant journalist looking for stories and seeking out the facts from the opinions among the College of William and Mary community.

Ever since the start of my college career, I’ve donated a good portion of my life to The Flat Hat. I’ve learned to grow used to the 3, 4, sometimes even 5 a.m. nights, to the blank, gaping stares that people give me when I tell them I work at least 30 hours a week putting the news section together, and the even bigger jaw-drop they get when they hear that I do this work voluntarily. Yup…for absolutely nothing.

I really can’t explain to you what makes me stay cooped up in an office from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. not only once but twice per week.

I’ve pondered the question many a times, and I’ve resolved to telling people that I love the feeling that you get when you walk the UC terrace (forgive me, but to us upperclassmen, the Sadler Center will forever be the University Center) and someone reads and comments on a story that you worked very hard to put together.

Or it could be the fact that I love the friendly atmosphere of the office. After working such long hours with the same people every week, we’ve all come to view each other as sort of a family away from home.

Further still, it could be the fact that I get to talk to and get to know many notable figures around the College that make many of the institution’s most important decisions. Our reporters have traditionally interviewed such individuals as College Presidents and Board of Visitors members to more notable individuals such as Today Show hosts Matt Lauer and Al Roker.

However, I do know this, each one of those people who sacrifice their time and expertise, do it to put out a great paper and to bring the news of the College to the College. And I also can say with a large degree of certainty that they all share the same passion as I do for journalism.

So when I read stories about how after this recession, newspapers may just be a thing of the past, I simply look up, and realize that at least reporting on the news will never die. After 98 years of dedicated work by fellow Flat Hat editors, reporters and copyeditors, in my mind, the age of the newspaper may be over, but news will always be there, and there will always be loyal William and Mary students there to report on it.