The Uber Drivers of My College Experience (and Other Reflections as Editor-in-Chief)
Letter from the Circle’s Outgoing Editor-in-Chief Sarah Lynch, Class of 2021
As someone uncommonly averse to driving long distances, I’ve taken more than my fair share of Uber rides around Poughkeepsie these past four years at Marist –– and accumulated quite the collection of stories.
An Uber driver I had sophomore year used to be a dancer in the traveling tour of “West Side Story,” and we bonded over our love of musicals during my ride to the Galleria. Another picked me up at the train station my freshman year after I spent the day in D.C. at March for Our Lives, and we shared our fears about the prevalence of school shootings.
An innocent comment to one Uber driver about the broken “Aid” part of the Rite Aid sign across the street prompted a story about his favorite teacher in high school who had died tragically of AIDS. In the six-minute drive to the train station, another Uber driver divulged her most serious woes about her brother-in-law threatening to send her sister back to Pakistan due to her recent miscarriage.
People love to talk, and I, generally, love to listen. Often, when I’m standing in the middle of Grand Central Station or an airport terminal, I think about how every single person who passes me by had a totally unique story. They go home to different people and problems. Now, with masks, there is even more of a tendency to see each other en masse, but everyone has a story. I find great joy in getting to know a person in the course of a conversation. It’s what drew me to journalism, and I’m sure many members of the Circle staff can say the same.
This 2020-2021 Editorial Board of the Marist Circle and I assumed our positions the week that George Floyd was killed at the hands of police in Minneapolis. It was immediately clear that the summer, and the rest of our tenure on the edit board, would be anything but ordinary. A global pandemic had already closed our beloved campus for the spring, and uncertainty loomed. Would Marist return to campus in the fall? What social change did students, faculty and staff want to see regarding diversity and inclusion? What would a college campus look like in the midst of an ever-evolving global pandemic?
Everyone had questions. It was our job to answer them to the best of our ability. At the end of the summer, I shared an email with the edit board, an excerpt of which I’ve included here:
“I'm challenging all of you to go deeper this fall. While we can harp on what we've lost these past few months (the examples are plentiful), we've gained a chance to be journalists during a pivotal moment in history. Don't take this chance lightly. Honor it, and dig in.”
And dig in they did.
Words fail when I try to express the depth of my pride in this exceptional crop of student journalists (scratch that: journalists). They covered protests in the pouring rain, scoured through reports, asked tough questions and listened to their fellow students. More than perhaps any year prior, this year’s staff fulfilled journalism’s truest purpose: its public service.
Sarah Lynch, outgoing Editor-in-Chief, says goodbye to the Circle and reflects on the year. Source: Sarah Lynch
We watched the Circle’s website views triple over the course of six months, and witnessed the comments section of our social media become a forum for students’ fears, complaints and demands. Our peers, professors and parents turned to us for critical information about the campus, from spikes in COVID-19 cases to student-led protests to responses from the college’s administration. It was a responsibility that none of us took lightly. The quality of the reporting we produced is a testament to the impact student journalism can have.
“More than perhaps any year prior, this year’s staff fulfilled journalism’s truest purpose: its public service.”
Outside of our print editions, we took on two special initiatives that displayed the full gamut of this team’s editorial strength and creative power. Our collaboration with Marist Votes in the fall provided the college community with a robust voter resources hub and an overview of how the campus prepared for the 2020 election. This preceded our even grander endeavor in the spring: a special edition of For the Record highlighting “The Changemakers.” A behemoth of an undertaking and ever-complicated by the campuswide pause, this project persisted despite every obstacle and shared the stories of remarkable people during a devastating year. It has been the pride of my college career.
I’m indebted to my powerhouse team of editors: Greta Stuckey, Danielle Sica, Makena Gera, Alexis Colucci, Nicole Iuzzolino, Max Smith, Janine Pultorak, Paisley Haddad and Lauryn Starke. Your creativity and willingness to dig in elevated the paper to new heights. Without Sydney Kysar, there would have been no Circle to print, and the ideas her talent made possible bewilder me even still. To Grace Maeda –– my managing editor and the frequent recipient of rambling text messages –– thank you for conquering every task, from the tremendous to the tedious, and for being my steadfast partner through all of this. Grace and I could not have asked for a better adviser than Prof. Kathleen McNulty, whose constant guidance and thoughtful critiques keep the Circle operating at its highest capacity. For every last-minute gut-check and professional insight, you were our first call. Thank you to Dr. Kevin Lerner, whose support of the Circle and of my own journalistic aspirations has been a mainstay. My special thanks also goes to President Dennis J. Murray, the college’s vice presidents, Leslie Foxhall, Emily Saland, Mark Palmer, Tony Sills, Michele Williams, Bob Lynch, the Advancement Office, Dr. Melissa Gaeke, Gabrielle Salko and Tara Guaimano, whose communication and contributions to the Circle are so deeply appreciated.
I leave the Circle in remarkably capable hands. Lauryn Starke and Greta Stuckey, both sophomores, will have the next two years to create a lasting impact on the paper. They will have a dynamic edit board by their side, not to mention a capable and dedicated staff. They are prepared to take on the paper’s 80-year legacy and create their own. There’s so much more to do, and I cannot wait to be one of the lucky readers who get to watch them do it.
The issues that this exceptional team of reporters tackled –– the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustices, the 2020 election and domestic abuse, to name a few –– were more than just story assignments; these were issues that impacted our reporters just as acutely as everyone else. Nonetheless, they pushed forward, propelled by their fervent commitment to journalism and their dedication to its essential service. To paraphrase our adviser, this has been a heartbreaking time to be a college student, but an amazing time to be a college reporter.
One gloomy day last November, I shoved a bulky tripod into the backseat of an Uber to report on a story off-campus, and my driver asked what on earth I was doing. I told him I’m going to be a journalist. And how good that felt.
Thank you,
Your Outgoing Editor-in-Chief
Sarah Lynch