I’m so glad we had this time together
TIM DUNBAR
dunbar@mscd.edu

What you now hold in your hands is the final issue of The Metropolitan for the Spring semester. You will see at the top of the front page of this issue a banner that reads: “Named Best Non-Daily College Newspaper in region 9 by the Society of Professional Journalists.” Region 9 consists of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah, which includes some pretty stiff competition as college newspapers go.

      Not only did we take first place for the newspaper itself, we also received several other awards April 29 at the SPJ conventionhere in Denver. Matt Jonas and Adrian DiUbaldo picked up first place awards for General News Photography and Feature Photography, respectively. Their award-winning pictures are featured this week on pages 14 and 15.

      Nic Garcia and I won a second place award for Editorial Writing for a piece we did about the Student Government Assembly.

      Nic also took third place for General Column Writing, and Adam Goldstein won third place for Editorial Cartooning.
      We as a newspaper staff are very proud of these awards. My personal pride, however, runs a little deeper.

      When I applied for the job of editor-in-chief, my goals were simple: get more people involved in the paper, report on a wider variety of topics on campus, and take first place in the region, then in the country, as best all-around newspaper. For the most part, we accomplished those goals. And for that, I have to share the credit. I was fortunate,as editor, to have inherited an already excellent staff, and to have several people fall into my lap (so to speak).

      Adam Goldstein, one of the most gifted writers I have ever known, returned to the college and the staff after having already received one degree, to edit the features section, which we renamed “Metrospective.” Adam is an all-around writer, artist and musician; he’s a renaissance man, really, and the Metrospective section would not be what it has become if not for the talents of Adam and his assistant, another wonderful writer, Joe Nguyen.

      Matt Gunn, another great writer, was one of those people who dropped in my lap. He had written some sports stories for the paper prior to his becoming sports editor,
but the job he has done at the helm of the sports section, has caused the quality of The Metropolitan to skyrocket. Matt is also a helluva lot of fun to work with and keeps things light around the office, especially on Tuesday nights when we put the paper together.

      Matt and Jeremy “JJ” Johnson have taken the sports section to new heights with coverage of club hockey, men and women’s rugby, cycling, and many other sports never before covered by The Metropolitan.

      Matt Quane took the reigns as news editor when Clayton Woullard stepped down (Clay, who has remained a good friend all the years we’ve worked together, is still with us and does an exemplary job as a copy editor) and has done a stellar job. David Pollan and Scott Hasbrouck have also done a great job editing the stories we run each week. They keep the sentences from running on, the modifiers from dangling and the tenses from straying, so you can make sense of what you read.

      Nic Garcia spent last summer, on his own time, redesigning The Metropolitan, making it stand out among college newspapers around the country. Nic is also our Insight editor and a fine writer and has recruited many talented writers to help Insight become the must-read section of the paper.

      Matt Jonas, a straight-shooter who was instrumental in my deciding to apply for the editor position, is an amazing photographer and the best photo editor this paper has ever seen. His work and the many talents of photographers Leah Bluntschli, Adrian DiUbaldo, Will Moore, Emily Varisco, and the other photographers who shoot for us, are what make this paper an award winner.

      Cory Casciato, our Audio Files editor, will take over the position of editor-in-chief after this issue goes to press (so, by the time you read this, I will be out of a job).Cory brings to the job a fierce dedication to quality, an amazing ability to say exactly what he means and a wicked sense of humor.

      He will bring new ideas, a new look and a ton of attitude to The Metropolitan. As he and Megan Carneal have done with Audio Files, Cory will help maintain the superior quality of this award-winning newspaper. These people, along with many writers and contributors have been a joy to work with. They have all contributed to this paper in ways that have helped make the whole far exceed the sum of its parts.

      As for me, I will return next fall to move commas around (that is, edit copy) and to continue writing a column in this space. Meanwhile it has been an honor serving you as editor-in-chief. Thank you for the opportunity.