My mother was so proud when I came home spazzing out as told her I had been selected to be the editor-in-chief for this semester.

As she showered me with her kisses, hugs and praise, I knew that anything I would ever come to accomplish would be because of the woman she so carefully molded me into.

She also taught me to be patient, tolerant and to not melt under pressure.

When this semester first started, I was so excited about leading my Union staff.

I couldn’t wait to put out my first issue, redesign a couple of things and help the publication receive the recognition is deserves.

The first day of class, more than half of the people who registered to be part of this prestigious publication FAILED TO SHOW UP!

With six people designing pages and assigning stories with only 5 writers, I have to admit my outlook on the situation was pretty bleak.

How the hell was I going to put a paper out with 12 people?

I thought, for sure, that Lori Medigovich, my adviser, would tell me the paper would be canceled.

Instead, she encouraged me and my staff and we reluctantly assumed our roles as journalists.

It was up to me to maintain my composure as I led my staff into its first issue.

All of the writers turned their stories in, the photographers submitted their photos and the editors kept their cool as they took on something they had never done before.

One way or another, my severely under-staffed crew and I put out nine issues this semester, when none of us thought we had a chance.

If the chaos of meeting deadlines, editing stories, putting pages together and maintaining a positive learning environment for my staff wasn’t enough, I took the hugest blow I wil ever take in my life: I lost my best friend, my mentor and my ultimate role-model, my mother.

She suffered two and a half years with terminal cancer, so her passing brought me relief as well as tremendous grief.

If I didn’t have classes to go to, the paper to put out and my job, I would be a mess.

It has been people who have helped me to keep my sanity through it all.

I think these trying times of mine are what helped me to keep the staff motivated.

If I could go through two and a half years of insanity, surely putting out a paper would be a piece of cake.

It wasn’t.

But it just conveys a message of endurance, and how one can never ever give up, even when the waves of life come crashing down upon them.

As human beings, we are blessed and cursed with an array of emotions.

It is important not to let these emotions get in the way of life.

Control over the self is always key in trying to accomplish anything.

My staff probably didn’t know how to react when I came in the Monday after my sad news and got right back to work.

But that’s how it goes.

So, as the Union takes a break ’til next spring, I look forward to the good and the bad times that await me.