As I sit down to pen my final “Letter from the Editor” for The Hullabaloo, I am drawn back to the first time I visited our newsroom in the Garden Level of the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life. My experience over the past four years has been nothing short of transformative — filled with challenges and triumphs that have shaped me both as a professional and as an individual. As my tenure as editor-in-chief comes to a close, I am overcome with gratitude for this extraordinary organization and the exceptional team that has become my second family.

My journey began in the fall of my freshman year when I joined The Hullabaloo as a sports writer. I was instantly enamored by the dynamic work environment and the enthusiasm of our devoted staff. That same semester, I was honored to take on the role of sports editor, a position I held for three remarkable years before I was elected editor-in-chief. While I originally joined The Hullabaloo to create content that I am passionate about, it has since become, without a doubt, the most important part of my college experience. 

In the fall of 2019, The Hullabaloo’s sports section was, by all means, a modest affair. Since then, myself and my co-sports editors, Mark Keplinger and Jeremy Rosen — along with our dedicated sports team — relentlessly worked to rejuvenate this section from the ground up. Despite facing setbacks along the way such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the impact of Hurricane Ida in 2021, our perseverance led us to notable achievements. We expanded our coverage to include not only Tulane University athletic events, but local events such as New Orleans Saints games, the Sugar Bowl, the NCAA Men’s Final Four and even high school sporting events. One of my greatest joys in this role was providing aspiring sports journalists the chance to cover high-profile events.  

The pinnacle of our journey was undoubtedly covering Tulane football’s historic Cotton Bowl win over the University of Southern California Trojans in January 2023 — an event that our entire sports team traveled to cover. This moment, coupled with opportunities like covering the media events for Super Bowl LVII in February, are beyond what I ever imagined possible when I first set foot in our office in 2019. These are not merely career highlights; they are indelible memories that attest to the value of hard work, collaboration and never giving up.

Our achievements extend far beyond the sports desk. In October, The Hullabaloo was honored with a Newspaper Pacemaker — the Pulitzer Prize of College Journalism — by the Associated Collegiate Press for the eighth time. We were also recognized as a Pacemaker 100 recipient by the ACP, which honors the top 100 publications in the Pacemaker award’s history ranging from collegiate newspapers, magazines, online publications, yearbooks and broadcasts. 

Just over a month later, our newsroom caught on fire, but we continued to write. 

Martha Sanchez and Hannah Levitan masterfully spearheaded our news section, delivering reporting on key issues such as the latest developments within the growing fentanyl crisis on college campuses and the university’s sexual assault climate survey. Our Views editors — Phoebe Hurwitz, Rachel Kelly and Casey Wade — nurtured a vibrant platform where diverse perspectives on campus climate could be articulated and debated, while Doxey Kamara led Intersections, elevating marginalized voices and facilitating crucial dialogues to enrich our university community. In Arcade, Sophie Borislow and Laura Malagrino kept students informed and engaged with happenings both on campus and in the broader New Orleans area. Finally, our team of fact-checkers and copy editors served as our backbone, playing an essential role in maintaining the quality of our work and ensuring that we maintained strong journalistic integrity throughout everything we did. 

My biggest accomplishment this year was retaining each and every member of our staff — Nothing that we did this year would be possible without every writer, editor, photographer, layout editor, copy editor, fact-checker and everybody else on our team. We truly had a great time working together and learning from one another to serve as the eyes and ears of the Tulane community.

I extend a heartfelt thanks to my managing board: Production Manager Will Embree for his aesthetic ingenuity; Chief Copy Editor Lenny Draper for her meticulousness; Personnel Director Holly Haney for her unwavering support; Digital Director Billie Wyler for her digital innovation; and Senior Business Manager Luke Wilson, the architect of our successful fundraising initiatives, including “The Next Edition” project that culminated in the creation of The Hullabaloo Endowed Fund.

I also extend my deepest gratitude to my managing editor and incoming editor-in-chief, Gabi Liebeler. Gabi’s tireless commitment to consistently elevate our work has not gone unnoticed and I am confident that she and her team — composed entirely of journalists who joined post-pandemic — will carry The Hullabaloo to new heights.

Finally, I would like to thank everybody else who helped me along the way. To my readers, family, friends, mentors, colleagues — your encouragement has been instrumental, making this journey not only rewarding, but also profoundly enriching. Thank you for the experiences and invaluable lessons that have shaped my time at The Hullabaloo.