I’ll never forget the first day I said hello to this newsroom.
“Hey, your name is Haipha right?” said Miles Villalon, former Union editor-in-chief.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Want to be opinion editor?” said Villalon.
“Sure,” I said. “Ummm, what’s an opinion editor?”
I was completely clueless as to what I was getting myself into and it was only the first day of class. It was my understanding that I was taking a class on how to write for a newspaper.
Little did I know that the class was the newspaper, the award-winning Union newspaper.
Now on my fourth and last semester on the Union I must now say goodbye to an amazing program and to the most remarkable people I have ever had the pleasure and honor to work with.
This program has changed my life forever. It has helped me to perfect my craft while nurturing my faith in myself and in my capabilities as a journalist.
The administration should be very proud to have such a program on campus.
In the past two semesters combined this program has won a 36 awards, including pacesetter and general excellence for both the Union and Warrior Life magazine at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) convention.
Not only has this program continued to win numerous JACC awards for decades, the Union had the only two community college students to win the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association $1,000 Internship Grant for 2011. One of the two recipients was me.
This was all made possible due to two extraordinary advisers : Lori Medigovich and Kate McLaughlin.
And I know many students in this program would agree with me that without these two women this program would be lost.
Their belief in their students and their unwavering dedication is unparalleled.
Being my last semester on staff, I wanted to make a difference and a big change in Union history.  Having had the great support of my advisers, I wanted to give back and show what this staff was capable of achieving.
I implemented a 6 p.m. deadline for production night rather than the usual 9 p.m. deadline. This turned out to be an extremely beneficial alternative all the way around. Students were no longer leaving the newsroom cross-eyed and lifeless, the printers got to go home at a reasonable hour and it put a great big smile on our advisers faces.
I want to thank the staff, without them, the unheard stories of many on campus would of went unknown.
Being on the Union, has shown me how important and necessary it is to have the Union newspaper on campus.
The Union is the students voice. Students should take advantage of having this media outlet on campus and use it to make changes;  now is the time, we need it more than ever.