During this fall 2024 semester, I have had the pleasure of working as The Cor Chronicle’s Community Editor. I will be finishing my studies at the University of Dallas this month, and thus, my time at the newspaper is coming to a close.
As I will be returning to the place of my youth, deep in the woods of New England, to continue as editor would be both impractical and potentially dangerous (rumors abound of the North American Moose’s burning ire towards journalists). Thus, I contentedly resign my post.
When my esteemed predecessor Francesca Pennell suggested that I apply for the Community Editor position, I was both hesitant and excited. On the one hand, I had enjoyed writing a few articles for The Cor Chronicle before and was confident that I would continue to enjoy it. On the other hand, “Editor” sounded like a lot of work.
Despite my complete ignorance of American Sign Language, both hands turned out to be telling the truth. Working as an editor for the publication has been both challenging and fun, and I am grateful to have been given this extraordinary opportunity.
I have also had the benefit of working with an excellent newspaper staff from the writers, layout, copy and section editors, to our eminent Editor-in-Chief. The Cor Chronicle is truly an excellent group and a valuable part of our UD community.
If you are like I was before working at the newspaper, you may be intimidated or reluctant to write or edit for the Chronicle. But I encourage you to consider doing so. It is a wonderful experience and an excellent way to exercise your creative thinking and hone your writing skills.
Additionally, if you write for the paper, based on the number of both on-campus and online readers, your articles can reach an audience of up to a thousand people. For a small Catholic school-run newspaper, that’s no insignificant thing, and you can make a large impact with the quality of your writing and journalism.
Reflecting on a semester of writing and editing articles on UD’s community, my appreciation for the unique experience we have as students of this university has grown. Everyone knows the strange and distinct character that UD’s community has, complete with its time-honored traditions and lighthearted intellectual atmosphere.
Unique aspects of our community, like our wealth of religious groups (with the campus and surrounding area earning the local moniker “Vatican Valley”), celebration of Groundhog Day and professors who care deeply about their students’ grasp of the truth, set UD apart from comparable universities.
From my personal experience, no one really seems to understand UD unless they spend significant time here. It is truly an acquired taste.
I am grateful for the education I have received here, the valuable experience I have gained by participating in extracurriculars like The Cor Chronicle, the spiritual guidance that is so readily available and that one time that Jude McLoughlin gave me a bite of his chicken burrito.
I am most especially grateful for the friendships that I have formed in this community. When it comes down to it, it is always the quality of the people you surround yourself with that determines the quality of the experience you have. The single most significant characteristic of this UD community is the inestimable quality of its members.
I’d like to thank the community for the wonderful time I’ve had here, the faculty for the excellent classes I’ve been able to take, The Cor Chronicle for a fun last semester and O’Neil Ford for not letting us get too full of ourselves.
See you at Groundhog,
Frank
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