Abi Hilden, executive editor

It’s hard for me to put into words exactly what this whole thing means to me. And by ‘this whole thing’ I mean the four years that I have spent writing, editing and working for the Echo.

When I first started as a student at Augsburg, I had no intentions of joining the school newspaper. In fact, it wasn’t until my friend — and former Echo Features Editor — Sarah Burke suggested to me that I should come to the first meeting of the school year that I even considered it as something that interested me. I mean, I liked writing, but a newspaper? Really? However, even with my doubts, I still got up and went to that early morning meeting (or at least early by my standards, this night owl will not be missing editing articles at seven in the morning). Little did I know that that meeting would set in motion the cornerstone of my college career.

I had a really hard time in my first year of college, going from being away from my family for the first time to losing my father to even considering dropping out entirely. While it isn’t the only reason, the Echo was one of the main reasons that I kept going even when things seemed bleak. The community that I felt within the four walls of our little office in the Auggie’s Nest was unmatched and it held me in its arms whenever I needed it the most. I met some of my closest friends within those walls. I’ve often said that the office is my favorite place on campus and the members of our Echo community are my favorite people and I just want to reiterate how I genuinely and confidently feel that way.

Beyond some of the more sappy stuff, the Echo also reinvigorated my love for the written word. After 13 years of writing essays and assignments sucked the joy out of writing for me, I was the last person that I thought would ever choose to write outside of what I needed to do for class. Then, I became a staff writer for the Echo and opted to declare an English major with a concentration in creative writing because writing for this newspaper reminded me just how much I love writing. I’ve gone on to write things like an entire movie and multiple plays during my time here at Augsburg, none of which I think I would have ever tried to do if it weren’t for this organization.

Also, I have loved my time at the Echo because it reminded me that no matter how scary things seem or how powerless I feel, I can still use my voice to support the causes and people that I care about. I’ve always been heavily invested in political matters but oftentimes I’ve been too scared to do anything about the injustice that I’ve seen in the world. The Echo gave me a platform to shed off that fear and insecurity and to put myself out there, to stand up for what I believe in is right because that is our entire purpose as a paper — our tagline isn’t “Your voice matters” for nothing.

Now, before I run out of room on the page, I want to say a few thank yous. Thank you Sarah for convincing first-year me that this whole thing was worth my time and energy, you were so right. Thank you Zully for trusting me to lead this team after your graduation, you were such an amazing mentor and are an amazing friend. Thank you Tayana, Percy and Christine for keeping me sane throughout each and every issue and being my closest friends. Thank you Elliot for all of your “other duties as assigned” and for being the best brother a person could ask for, you’re going to do so great leading this team next year. Thank you to the rest of the staff for always being amazing at your jobs and putting up with my rambling during staff meetings, this wouldn’t be possible without you all. And a big thank you to anyone who has contributed to the Echo in any way over the last four years, you have made my college experience the best that anyone could ask for.

And with that, I am officially well over my word count limit — so this is me saying goodbye to the best part of the last four years of my life. It has truly been the greatest honor.