As the old cliché goes, all good things must come to an end.
On Sunday, July 20, it will be time for me to say a goodbye to all of you, the readers of Lumination – at least in a sense.
On that day, I will pass along one of the greatest batons I’ve ever had the chance to carry – the title of Lumination’s Editor-in-Chief.
When I took over the position in December of 2012, I really had no idea what to expect. By that point, being editor of Lumination had been one of the main goals I hoped to achieve as a college student.
Through all of the experiences I had while working as editor, I can safely say that the days between the one where I took over Lumination to the one where I publish this note have been some of the most important, rewarding days of my life.
My time as editor has been a whirlwind of big stories, triumphant Bisons victories, crushing Bisons defeats, fascinating Lipscomb developments and mundane-yet-necessary updates.
It’s consisted of late nights in the newsroom, good laughs with friends on staff, precious naps at home and hordes of emails in the inbox.
I’ve had to make hard decisions in hard times and applaud brilliant work in times of great joy.
Simply put, this has been one of the most hectic-yet-irreplaceable times of my life – one that cannot hold a price but would be worth its weight in gold to relive.
While the time has come for me to step away from the editor’s role, Lumination’s future is as bright as can be.
Logan Butts, a current Managing Editor and former Entertainment Editor, will be taking the reins as Editor-in-Chief.
Logan has an exciting vision for the site, and I’m incredibly excited for the direction that he’s going to lead Lumination in for the rest of the summer and during the fall semester.
Brianne Welch will still be providing excellent work as a Managing Editor, while Lumination’s main photographer and contributor Erin Turner will join Brianne as our second Managing Editor.
With Logan, Brianne and Erin leading the dot-com side of things, Janice Ng taking over our lauded weekly news broadcast Lumination News and Thomas Jones continuing his fine work with our award-winning Lumination Radio, Lumination couldn’t be headed in a better direction.
I’ll still be around in various ways until my graduation in December with my brand new title of ‘Senior Editor,’ (it’s got a nice ring to it, no?). I’ll be pitching in to help out as I can, and you’ll still see my byline every now and then for the next few months. But, this is now Logan’s site to lead, and I wish him all the best.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank a few people.
I thank God for the ability to write and the blessing of being a journalist. It all goes through Him, and I couldn’t feel more blessed to be serving Him in this manner.
I thank Lumination advisors Jimmy McCollum, Tim Ghianni and Alan Griggs for their hard work and tireless dedication to the site. They have been, and will continue to be, the three best friends an editor can have.
I thank the other wonderful members of Lipscomb’s communications and journalism department who enrich the lives of communications students daily with their immense knowledge.
I thank my former editors Hunter Patterson and Emily Snell for preparing me for a wonderful editorship. Their guidance and friendship in my early days with Lumination kept me interested and working. I’d have been unable to receive such an honor as being an editor if it weren’t for these two showing me the ropes.
I thank my wonderful staff and all of Lumination’s contributors for making my job extremely easy and immensely rewarding. Their work shows incredible care and professionalism, and each byline is a credit to this website.
Lumination doesn’t happen without the dedicated work of each student and faculty member. They do the hard work – I just press ‘publish.’
I thank Lipscomb University for their professionalism in working with us at Lumination as we try to report on our community in the most professional, ethical way possible.
I thank the Nashville community for the professionalism we’ve been showed in the times we have ventured out into the town to report on events that affect us here at Lipscomb. We here at Lumination are honored to be a part of this town’s excellent group of news outlets.
And I thank you, the Lumination reader. You have joined us on our journey to fairly and accurately report on the community we all share, and I thank you for your support through reads, likes, retweets, shares, comments and kind words for our work.
I know that Lipscomb news may not make the top headlines of the national news outlets, but Lipscomb news is important, and will always be important, to those who choose to be a part of the Bisons’ herd.
It is, and will always be, Lumination’s pleasure to report it to you in a professional, ethical manner.
Being the editor of this site has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and I hope that through my time at the head of this ship, Lumination has able to enrich your time as a part of Lipscomb University.
So, while this is a goodbye from this editor, this is far from a goodbye to the excellence of Lumination. This site’s best days are ahead of it, and I’m fortunate to be among the number who will watch the site ascend to new, brilliant heights.