Farewell to The Beacon!

By Kyle Cape-Lindelin, Staff Commentary

And so it ends. Three years as a Beacon sports reporter and one as the sports editor have definitely been an experience.

I can honestly say that turning in an application and walking through the doors (WAY too overdressed) for my interview was the best decision of my college career. I quickly learned the ropes of the UP sports world, making friends and connections throughout my time that I will always look back on and hopefully still cherish many years from now.

I originally set out on my journey with The Beacon to improve my writing and follow my passion for sports. What I did not know was that I was already challenging myself, both personally and with my writing abilities, by putting myself out there for the school to read. I took the next step with becoming an editor, something I never thought I could do or even strived for as a freshman. I can only thank my co-workers for their support, positive criticism and constant laughs.

I cannot forget about my past editors who taught me how to be a good editor without them or even myself knowing it. I must also give a big shout-out to The Beacon's wonderful adviser, Nancy Copic, for always believing in me, pushing and encouraging me through many hard times when sometimes I did not even have faith in myself. I would also like to thank the great, hard working men that are UP's athletic media coordinators Jason Brough and Adam Linnman. Thanks for always being available to help me and my reporters with directions, information, setting up interviews and always doing it as quickly as you could. The sports section really could not exist without you guys.

Finally, I'd like to thank my fellow Sports Team comrades that existed throughout my four years. While we are all gone to greener pastures now, I can say that we always put out the best sports reporting and always had fun while doing it.

I can say that I would never have the direction of what I want to do in life or the confidence in myself to do what I want without joining The Beacon.

I am proud of my work and the rest of my co-workers, past and present. I will miss the fun, relaxing, friendly planning and critique meetings. Yes, even the stressful, high-tension, expletive-filled Wednesday layout nights will be missed because at least we were all in it together and there was nothing else to do but laugh at our own pain.

Good luck to future Beacon sports reporters and next year's editor, Katie Dunn. I know you will keep the sports section strong and as always, the best section of The Beacon. Sports Team FTW and a sad goodbye to the best group of writers on The Bluff.