Brian Olmo | Editor-in-chief
It’s time to say goodbye.
I’ve been a member of PantherNOW for three years, and I can safely say that working for the student paper has not only been a blast, but has made me a much better person.
My love for student journalism started all the way back in middle school when I was doing TV broadcasting and only grew as time went on. The idea of creating something out of nothing and showing it to people and them liking it was intoxicating.
In high school, I helped start the newspaper and that’s where I gained an appreciation for print journalism. I learned about muckrakers and quickly fell in love with investigative reporting and journalism’s role as a watchdog.
Those passions stuck with me until college. I slowly climbed the ranks at PantherNOW, starting off as a sports writer, then sports director and investigative director before finally becoming the editor.
These past nine months as editor have been some of the most rewarding yet stressful of my life. It was a true rollercoaster ride– every soaring high was almost immediately followed by a crushing low (probably the universe’s way of keeping me humble.)
I learned what it truly meant to be a leader, to have people depend on your guidance.
I am happy to say that everything I set out to accomplish with PantherNOW has been done.
We’ve broken some major stories, upped our social media game and hired a lot of talented and hardworking students.
Of course, I didn’t do any of it alone.
Thank you to Conor Moore, River Jean-Noel, Heidi Cuevas, Megan Long, Kaysea Suzana, Gaby Danger, Cosette Lipscomb, and Magali Zoghaib for serving on the executive board. Each of you deserves to be named here for your efforts. I love you guys.
Thank you to Juan Lopez, our student webmaster. You’ve done incredible work that will be debuted for our readers to enjoy hopefully very soon.
Thank you to Hector Zumbado for leading our sports photography team. The team has been amazing at covering FIU Athletics and deserves all the praise in the world.
Thank you to Carla Mendez for acting as the news multimedia producer and producing the very popular video series “On The Spot.” Your work has changed the game when it comes to multimedia content for the paper.
Thank you to the advisors – Robert Jaross, Alfred Soto and Francesa Rosario – for all the guidance you have given me.
Thank you to my incredible staff for all of the work you’ve done these last two semesters. I am nothing without any of you. Each of your individual contributions is what made PantherNOW so great.
Thank you to Ryan Haley and Zachary Huber, former Independent Alligator sports editors, for giving me my first taste of collegiate student journalism. You both took a chance on me and I’m forever grateful for that.
Thank you to Liam Rooney, former sports director of PantherNOW, for encouraging me to live up to my full potential. You were one of my strongest advocates early on and pushed me to be great.
Thank you to Elise Gregg, my dear friend and PantherNOW legend. You set me on the path of editor and have guided me throughout this entire journey. I was able to do what I did because of you; I stood on the shoulders of giants.
I wish the new editor Sofia Angel the best of luck. You are a capable leader and I’m excited to see what direction you take the paper in.
I have some final words of advice.
There were times throughout the semester when I wanted to stop everything. Days when the stress was too much to handle became more and more frequent. I’d scream in my car, slam my fists into the dashboard to relieve some of the pressure.
Love yourself and take care of your mind.
You can achieve great things and have time to unwind and do things that you love – those two things were never mutually exclusive and anyone who tells you so is a dirty liar.
But even if my flame has petered out, the fire of PantherNOW still burns bright. The future of student journalism at FIU is in good hands.
So, for the last time:
Goodbye PantherNOW.
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