I’ve been fortunate enough to find many different homes on campus, but I think the most surprising one has been The Observer.
I first applied to work for The Observer through an Instagram post that I saw, where Viewpoint was looking for illustrators. I sent in an email with a portfolio, and no one ever responded to me. I was bummed, sure, but ultimately I just assumed that I would never make it into the basement of South Dining Hall.
Then all of a sudden I see an opening for a graphic designer. I thought to myself, “Why not? The worst thing is that they could ignore your application again!” And so, I sent one in. This time, I was met with open arms by then-graphics editor, Maggie Klaers.
Maggie got me involved in the office. I came in on Sunday nights, did my silly graphics, goofed off with Aidan O’Malley and started to get to know the people who worked with me. The year flew by.
Sitting in my 9:25 a.m. philosophy class (one of the five times I actually went to class — Mom and Dad, pretend you didn’t read that), Maggie asked me if I wanted to take on the graphics editor position. Originally, I thought there was no way I could do it all. At this point, I had accepted my RA position and knew that I did not want to spread myself too thin.
However, Maggie was persistent. And I ended up listening. Boy, am I so glad that I did. Little did I know that I was about to be thrown into what has been one of the most loving and dedicated groups of people that I have ever been graced to meet. Luckily, I was able to trick my best friend and sister, Marissa, into taking on the same challenge that I did.
To the current editorial board — currently working in the wee hours of the morning to finish the commencement edition — hold onto these memories. As I pick up phone calls from Marissa, Liam and Isa asking me to finish writing this column, I remember how much work was put into making last year’s paper, but also how much fun it was to step into this role.
The Observer has created so many memories for me throughout my time at Notre Dame, but nothing beats the 1 p.m. meetings in the South Dining Hall basement every Sunday as I try to recover from the weekend before.
The Observer will always be my family, and my peers on the editorial board created an unforgettable senior year. SDH basement, take good care of my magnetic letters.
Christina is graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelors in visual communication design and minors in studio art and musical theater. After graduation, she will be booling around until she receives and accepts a job offer. You can contact Christina at christinasayut1@gmail.com.
