Saying Goodbye to old spaces

Pictured are some of the desks in the old Flyer News office. Photo courtesy of Luke Osciak for Flyer News.

Ren Sikes | Editor-In-Chief 

As a senior hurtling toward graduation at light speed, it’s becoming painfully clear that so much of what I knew as a college student is slowly becoming a part of the past. I could get into all of that existential dread surrounding the future and what happens to the past when it moves on, and that ever growing gnawing fear of what lies beyond Graduation…but I won’t for the sake of space and time. 

Instead, I’ll tell you about the Flyer News Office.  

Over winter break I spent my time packing up the Flyer News Office, a space soaked in history, at least six decades worth of student journalism. 

I spent 3 of my 4 years in college in that office, writing and creating and making memories. Building friendships and bringing a voice to the voiceless. I rekindled my passion for Journalism in that space. I grew as a writer, an editor and a designer. I made a lot of TikToks in that space. 

It became a sanctuary on campus, tucked away on the second floor of Kennedy Union, sharing a too thin wall with the Technicians Booth of Boll Theatre, where I also spent way too much of my time. 

When I packed up that office, I packed up so many memories, so much history. It was painful, I’ll admit to see so much history and hard work be reduced to a couple of boxes. It showed me how fleeting time is and how quickly things change. It was really heartbreaking to say goodbye to that space, to that piece of Flyer News History. 

But now, there is only the future to look forward to. The new space for Flyer News in the Roger Glass Center of the Arts, nestled in with the rest of Flyer Media. The new space is so much nicer and more advanced, with new smart screens and computer monitors, and floor to ceiling windows that look out on the rest of the Center. 

I’m grateful to spend my last semester in this shiny new space built purely for student journalism to thrive. 

But I know I am going to miss the office where it all started for me. The office with the whiteboard wall filled with quotes from past and present staff. The office where we just crossed out the names of old Editors in Chief and penciled in the new names rather than make a new placard. The office with the centuries old computers that sounded like they were taking off even when they weren’t being used. The office where the light would turn off and plunge me into darkness when I didn’t move for hours during late night print production. 

I loved that space, and now I have to say goodbye. 

Saying goodbye and exploring a bright new future. 

I don’t know if I’m ready to say goodbye.