A farewell to influential IVCC

Thanks, Eagles, for another successful year of IV Leader!

This is my last issue as your editor—which also means it’s my goodbye.

I’ll be leaving for ISU in the fall to go further in my goal to become an English teacher. When I was first trying to figure that whole career thing out, I hadn’t even considered IVCC. I was looking at the state schools, some places in Wisconsin… filling out applications for basically anywhere honestly, as long as they were free. And then—I don’t know. I just picked this place, and that was that.

And I’m very, very, glad I did.

At IVCC I got the taste of “real” college without renting a dorm; I got a chance to meet people I hadn’t before but also reunite with kids I knew in grade school; I got a job and a lovely, adorable, extremely kind group of coworkers (shout-out to the TWC). I even got that all, like many of you did, on the precarious edge of a pandemic. Oh. And I got the opportunity to edit IV Leader.

Look, a secret between you and me? I don’t even like journalism. It’s not what I want to do by any means. But I like writing, and I like designing, and

I like getting to know people I would’ve never talked to in my normal life.

My point is that not everything you do will be your passion—but most things end up connecting to something you really enjoy, because if you really enjoy it, you find that passion in everything you do.

IVCC is a great place to explore what that passion might be. And, sure, you might not find your passion here, but I think you’d at least find some genuinely good people that can point you where to go.

Make the most of this place while you’re here, whether that’s making connections with your instructor, forming friendships with classmates or coworkers, or taking advantage of the many opportunities available to IVCC students.

Oh! But before I go, here is a list of the editorials I would have written, had I the time, will, and perhaps monetary motivation:

- how the collective work of Nine Inch Nails, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and the Super Mario soundtrack department should be enough to musically sustain you for your entire life

- the insulting and deeply concerning new addition to

Snapchat, MyAI

- why Dostoyevsky is good but you need to read Gogol

- why Bungou Stray Dogs is the best animanga to ever exist (not at all related to the previous point)

- what your favorite Spider-man actor says about you—and if you don’t have one because you don’t like Spider-man… oh boy, does that say a lot

Take them. I insist. They can be your own personal writing prompts now. Something to stew over in your free time. A D.I.Y. editorial, if you will.

You know, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, there’s a position opening up…

Iv Leader Staff

Editor: Elisabeth Farrell

Assistant: Ryan Nolasco

Staff:

Drake Weber, Julian Godina, Eric Lockwood, John Cheli, Mia Mazzorana, Noah Simon, Logan Bland, Erin Brooker, Kendra Martin, Natalie Neal, Macy Anderson, Bonnie Hall.

IV Leader, a member of the Associated Collegiate Press, is published monthly by students of Illinois Valley Community College. Editorials and columns express opinions of student and staff members and do not necessar-ily express the views of IVCC, the adminis-tration or the Board. Editorial opinions are those a student editorial board.

Letters to the editor must be signed and should be addressed to the IV Leader Office B-316, IVCC, 815 N. Orlando Smith Rd., Oglesby, IL 61348-9691.

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IV Leader is a member of Associated Collegiate Press and the Illinois Commu-nity College Journal-ism Association.