Staff sign-off: Meg Dermody

When I transferred to VCU, I was lucky enough to have a safety net in place already. My dear friend Mechelle Hankerson was heading into her final semester of undergrad, and was happy to be my guide as I navigated my first weeks as a Ram.

Mechelle was the executive editor of the Commonwealth Times — and she knew I had aspirations to work as a copy editor. She invited me to volunteer every Wednesday and Sunday, editing copy and learning the ropes.

Fast-forward three years. I have served as the copy editor for four non-consecutive semesters, and was managing editor last year. I saw the paper move from a twice-weekly tabloid format to a once-a-week broadsheet, and helped to guide its continued upward trend in quality.

I have spent hours in the office, sometimes for stretches of time approaching 15 or 16 hours, making sure everything was as close to perfect as we could get it.

I’ve missed deadlines on homework, skipped classes, passed by other opportunities. I have wept, yelled, glared, laughed, danced, honed my skills, served as a shoulder to cry on and been a firm but kind critic. Most importantly, I have been a teacher, and built a community of people just as willing to sit in this tiny, windowless office for the better part of a weekend in the service of something greater than ourselves.

These semesters have been an incredible bonding experience. My closest friendships have bloomed at 3 a.m. while we combed over words and design, and were cemented over meals and drinks and tears. The CT has been a crucial part of my life at VCU, and I am immensely grateful for everyone who took the journey with me.

This sign-off has been difficult to write — I’m devastated.

How do you say goodbye to what has sustained you? How do you give up the thing you devoted yourself to fully? How can I leave this behind? But I am proud of the people who will take over after I leave, and I trust them to carry this paper into the next phase. My faith in the CT is unwavering. I can’t wait to see where we go next.