I began my senior year of college at Baker University the same way I started my freshman year, living in Irwin Hall. And yes, the showers are still tiny and the rooms still have that musty, old building smell.

Because of my role on the Panhellenic Executive Board, I have lived in Irwin for the past week due to sorority recruitment. While the building is still kind of creepy at night, it made me a bit nostalgic and reflective on my time at Baker.

As I started to think back on my past three years at ole’ BU, I thought of the different organizations I’ve been involved with over the years. There are so many different ways to get involved at Baker. I even gave Student Activities Council a try for a few weeks at the beginning of my freshman year.

And then there is the Baker Orange.

For those of you that have any friends that have been on staff for the Orange, you probably know that Wednesday nights can get kind of late for us, as they are our pagination nights.

We eat dinner together, watch KU basketball games on the big screen in the newsroom together and even have Easter egg hunts together around Easter time.

While some of those Wednesday nights stand out more than others, I can’t help but to reflect on the night that started it all; my very first night in the newsroom.

I was a freshman who was really interested in the paper. I wanted to know about the process, the staff and all of the nitty gritty details.

As I left the newsroom around midnight that night, I went back to my room in Irwin and emailed my high school journalism adviser to tell him all about my first night in the newsroom.

My email said something along the lines of, ‘I think I’ve found what I want to do at Baker.’

And I have found that.

While some people have come and gone from staff over the years, there are still those memories, those late nights, which bind us all together.

And while this year’s Baker Orange is going to be a little different than it has in the past, the staff is focused on certain goals set at the beginning of the year, and we are committed to producing an award-winning publication again this year.

We have a younger, excited editorial board and a number of returning staff members who are excited about the upcoming year.

I will serve as editor of the Orange for the fall semester and Meagan Thomas will serve as editor in the spring.

While splitting leadership roles is not typically something that is done on college campuses that have a newspaper, Meagan and I are committed to working together to help create the best product we can together.

The Orange staff prides itself on carrying out our motto, ‘Covering all the important things,’ and that is what we will do again this year.