Exit Letter: Ethan Exits

Since there are 5,000 other exit letters to read, and I’m writing this just prior to leaving my last-ever newspaper production night, I’ll keep things as brief as possible.

I joined The Student in fall 2021, during my first year at Amherst. My now dear friend Brianne LaBare ’25 ultimately inspired me to join the paper after several months of regaling me with tales of her newsroom escapades during lulls in our “Medieval European History” class.

From the start of my first semester at Amherst, it seemed like a natural fit — I had always been interested in journalism, but never had any tangible opportunities to actually be a part of the journalistic process. I was also living off campus at the time, and I figured that by joining, I would be able to both immerse myself in campus life and meet a host of interesting individuals.

Yet I was torn. As an independent student from a FLI background, joining The Student would mean that I would have less time to be able to engage in the paid work that I needed to support myself. Fortunately, though, that semester, The Student launched a pilot program that would allow me to work for The Student and get paid to do it.

So I joined the news section and began delving into campus life through it. With the help of then-news editors Caelen McQuilkin ’24E, Sonia Chajet-Wides ’25, and Eleanor Walsh ’25, I learned the ropes of news writing, but more importantly, through the news community, I found the first space on campus in which I truly felt that I belonged.

My love for journalism quickly flourished, and in the spring of my freshman year, I was offered the opportunity to take it to the next level by becoming a news editor for the paper. Truthfully, I initially anticipated continuing my time on the paper as an editor for the opinion section — but as I was filling out my application for a position, I was invited to become an editor for the news section. Because of how meaningful the community that I had found through the section was to me, that invitation convinced me to stay in it.

The first night I spent in the newsroom as an editor, the news team was there until nearly 4 a.m., waiting for a last-minute article to come in from a writer and for our edits to be approved by the editor-in-chief. By the end of the night, I was overwhelmed and exhausted, and I momentarily questioned whether I had made the right decision by deciding to become an editor. At my core, though, I knew that it was worth it.

Ultimately, it was the incredible community that I developed as a news editor that inspired me to remain on the paper throughout my four years at Amherst, even after the funding I had previously relied upon dried up after my sophomore year.

Being a news editor has meant giving up the entirety of my Tuesday nights to edit articles, compile the police log, and write Mammoth Moments in Miniature.
It’s meant arguing over semantic details and article formats with other editors and braving the knowledge that I’ll inevitably stumble into my first Wednesday class with a pounding headache and a glazed-over expression of confusion pasted onto my face.

These moments have in part defined my experience on The Amherst Student.

But only in part.

The rest of my time on the paper has been characterized by unhinged, exhausted laughter, “Yellow” by Coldplay (the newsroom’s unofficial anthem), and discussions about morality, hopes, dreams, and everything else under the sun.

Although I know that it’s cliché to say, I’ve been shaped by my time on The Student perhaps more than by any other venture I’ve undertaken throughout my time at Amherst, and I’m eternally grateful to all those with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work and build meaningful relationships throughout my time on it.

There are several, though, who I’d like to thank by name.

Thank you first and foremost to Brianne, my tireless companion in both our work on The Student and every aspect of my Amherst experience.

Thank you to Lynn Lee ’23, whose journalistic diligence and prowess were a true inspiration to me as I began my work as a journalist for The Student.

Thank you to Sonia, Eleanor, and Caelen, my first fellow news editors and my brilliant teachers, for introducing me to the world of news and for making me feel so welcome on a campus that, despite its small size, can feel so daunting.

Thank you to Leo Kamin ’25 and Michael Mason ’25, whom I’ve had the pleasure of serving alongside as a news editor since sophomore year, for your wit and for preserving the spirit of levity in the news section that attracted me to it in the first place.

Thank you to Julia Gentin ’26, for your commitment to utilizing journalism as a tool for connecting the college to the broader town community, and for always advocating for your journalistic and personal convictions.

Thank you to Drew Stephens ’26 and Dylan Vrinns ’26 for your eagerness to learn the ropes in the news section.

Finally, thank you to all the many fantastic writers whose articles I’ve had the pleasure to edit throughout my time on The Student.

I’ll always be so grateful for the kindness and love that The Student community has shown me time and again throughout my time at Amherst.