Farewell, for now

So, the time has come. Later this week, I’ll be shipping off to the other side of the state for college, ending my one-year tenure as managing editor of The Upstate Courier. 

Before I slip away to the soon to be snow-covered city of Buffalo, I would be remissed if I didn’t send out a few thank-yous and take you on a quick run through my just-beginning journey.

This all started for me back in 2014, when I joined The Lightning Rod, my now alma mater’s school newspaper when I was a freshman at Saratoga Springs High School. I went to the first meeting only to find out that they were looking for a new sportswriter, and my advisor Jill Cowburn and my then-editor Eli Fisher assigned me to the football game later that week.

I obviously didn’t really know what I was doing, but I was immediately hooked and these past four years are a result of that, and Mrs. Cowburn, who I finally had as a teacher this year after three years of her guiding me, along with Eli, I can’t thank enough for entrusting me so early on and helping me immensely through those first couple years.

I started with The Upstate Courier, then called 518 Sports, in February 2016, when Dylan Rossiter sent me a direct message on Twitter asking if I wanted to write for this website, which then was still in the pretty early stages starting up. When Dylan moved on to college last year, he named me as his successor, which has given me probably the best year of my life, getting to cover events that that 14-year-old freshman would have never dreamed of covering, and getting to work alongside him and my staff this past year has been an absolute pleasure, so I will be forever indebted to him for really kicking off what I believe I was put on this Earth to do.

I will say though, at the beginning I kind of felt like an outsider, being a 16, 17 year old sharing a press box with the top sportswriters in the area, but that quickly went away with how accepting and welcoming everyone was to me, especially Stan Hudy, Michael Kelly, Jim Schiltz and Will Springstead, who I consider to be those I’m closest to within the industry. Another thank-you to the SID’s I worked with over the years, not blowing off a small publication run by high school and college students and seeing us as equals.

Obviously, a quick thank-you to my parents, who have supported me along these four years, being okay with me not being home at least one or two nights a week because I was off at whatever game, and driving me to said games before I got my license. 

An additional thank-you to our loyal readers, who are really the ones who keep this website afloat. Without support from the fans, athletes, coaches, parents, family and friends, this website would not be where it is today.

One last huge thank-you goes out the ones who make this site what it is, the staff I’ve been able to work with in this past year. I’ve always found it great, interesting in a way, how much turnover there has been between Dylan’s staff and my staff and the fact that we didn’t miss a beat during that time. It really says something about how people want to be a part of this, and journalism as a whole. They’ve done me well, and I hope that these guys can say the same about me. With that, an announcement, after a lot of discussion, I am excited to say that as of tomorrow, Wednesday, August 22, 2018, Henry Golden will be the new managing editor of The Upstate Courier. I am happy with our decision and I’m confident that Henry will do a great job in his new post. Meanwhile, I will be transitioning into the role of senior editor, helping advise Henry and his staff and making sure things run smoothly.

I’ll still be around, during the summers and when our local teams visit the 716. But other than that, for now, it’s farewell, and good luck.