Sam Hunt: Goodbye from the sports desk
When I came to Georgia College as a freshman in the fall of 2008 and decided to attend a Colonnade meeting, I never would have guessed that it would have led to me writing a goodbye column in the final Spring 2012 issue as The Colonnade sports editor nearly four years later.
Working here at The Colonnade, serving multiple positions and writing all types of stories, has taught me more than I could have ever imagined.
After serving as a sports writer in Fall 2008 and continuing to write in the Spring of 2009 led to me being promoted to assistant sports editor midway through the Spring 2009 semester, serving under the then sports editor Preston Sellers and Editor-in-Chief Corey Dickstein.
Preston and Corey were great mentors to me, and with their help and encouragement my abilities and my confidence both grew. I learned how to effectively write deadline pieces, meaning I could go to a men’s basketball game that began at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night, which was production night at The Colonnade office, witness the game and take notes while it was going on. Then after the game was over, I could conduct interviews with the men’s head coach, Terry Sellers, as well as two other basketball players, head back to The Colonnade office and crank out the story in less than 50 minutes and get it put in the sports section so the paper could get completed the same night.
After Corey graduated, Claire Dykes took the reigns as the new Editor in Chief for Fall 2009 to the Spring of 2010, where through her leadership and Preston’s dedication as the sports editor helped me continue to grow as a writer and increased my confidence. I was no longer nervous about speaking to coaches and athletes for interviews and was able to write sports feature stories as well as sports coverage stories.
When Claire and Preston both graduated in the Spring of 2010, Matt Chambers took over as Editor-in-Chief in Fall 2010 while Scotty Thompson stepped up to served as the new sports editor. Through the fantastic leadership and commitment that these guys had toward the paper, I was able to learn more about working inside a newspaper office in addition to being out in the field collecting interviews and writing articles.
Scotty taught me how to improve my writing as well as show me how to design and lay out a Sports section of a newspaper. Then before I knew it, Spring semester of 2011 had rolled around and it was time for Matt and Scotty to both graduate, meaning it was my turn to fill the shoes of sports editor and put all of what I had learned from the great writers and editors before me to the test.
Now, after serving as the sports editor for my entire senior year of college and working with The Colonnade for all four years of my college career, my time has also come to graduate. With that in mind, I will not forget all of those I have met along my journey, not just in The Colonnade staff, but outside the staff as well, including Sports Information Director Al Weston, who always made sure that I was able to interview whoever I needed to as well as all the coaches and players who were always more than willing to speak with me.
The time has now come for Bobbi Otis to take over as Sports Editor and I am confident that she will carry on the tradition of keeping our students informed about the latest happenings in the sporting world circulating GC.
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