I was just another freshman four years ago with a cliché dream of going to school in the city and making it “big” someday as an aspiring journalist.

I was hoping to get the college experience at Suffolk and started to think that I would leave here as just another number two years in.

I got a late start, but fast-forward to the end of my junior year and I could finally justify being at Suffolk, because of The Suffolk Journal.

I woke up at 4 a.m. on a Thursday morning in early November last year and acted on a strong urge to start getting involved and writing for the school newspaper.

I went to my first meeting that following week and took my first pitch, which of course, was a game recap of the Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche.

Since then, even though I never followed sports besides the Bruins growing up, I rolled with sports. Because of The Journal, I learned to step out of my comfort zone and worked on building my writing portfolio.

I realized that I could actually envision myself as a sports journalist.

My absolute favorite part of writing for sports is the community aspect of it.

Whether it is going to games, sporting events or listening to people boast about their favorite team or their love for the game, it is so incredibly awesome to see and hear the passion that unravels for the love many people have for sports– both Suffolk and Boston especially.

Boston sticks together through the highs and lows and being a part of the “best sports city in the world” exemplifies that.

Even though I will no longer be eating pizza on production nights or walk into the office and look forward to seeing my best friends every day, it was an absolute honor and pleasure to work with this year’s Journal staff, especially to produce some of our best work yet.

I will always be a storyteller and share the stories of others through my writing. But, in the few times like this, I get to share my story– print wise.

Even though it was for a little more than a year, I will finally get to say that I lived the college experience at Suffolk, because of The Journal.

Signing off,

Skylar To