Initially I didn’t want to write a column for this year’s final issue of The Daily Beacon.

I have only been a staff member here one year, and I felt a little strange writing about my experience in the newsroom.

What would I say about being part of a staff for just one year amidst a staff full of people who have been here for four years?

And for a while I did not have anything remarkable to tell. I do not have a large reservoir of memories to reminisce about like everyone else. But as I sit in the newsroom with everyone on Thursday, it dawned on me that I do have something of worth to say. At least to me.

I would say my college experience has been pretty typical, and for most students at most SEC schools it will be the same. There were a lot of bars, parties and alcohol.

There were Vyvanse- and Taco Bell-fueled all-nighters, weekends that have been erased from memory thanks to Evan Williams, and concerts.

And I’m sure that most of you reading this can check each of those off your list too.

So, now to my point.

It is the people and the way that you connect to the university that sets an individual’s college experience apart from their classmates.

For some it’s being in the Pride, a Greek chapter or a club. For me it was student publications.

I found something that I love to do, but there were times in my first three years that I was not sure if I had chosen the right path. I started to hate what I did, which was why I took a production internship instead of a writing internship in the summer of 2012. But, the Beacon saved me.

This paper certainly means more to some people than it does to me. I haven’t invested nearly the same amount of time and dedication to this place, but I will always be grateful to the Beacon for what it has done for me.

The Daily Beacon has given me something to take pride in and something that has made four years at this university worthwhile, even if I was just on staff for a year.

I am appreciative of my time at other publications, but I will credit The Daily Beacon with instilling the work ethic required to work at a daily newspaper in me and giving me the skills in order to attain the job that I have lined up. It restored my faith in the career path I set myself on four years ago.

During this year I have met some of the best people that I could have hoped to come in contact with. We’ve spent five days a week since August together and, like any group of people who see each other so often, I hated them at times, but I am thankful for all my time at this paper.

There are lots of things about this university that I do not like or do not agree with. There are things that have happened that make me embarrassed that I go here at times. But being at this paper has made me proud to be a student at Tennessee, something I never thought that I’d say.

I hope during everyone’s time at school that they can find something that makes them as happy as writing does for me.

I could have gone to any school and drank until I was sick or gone to football games, but I don’t know if I would have enjoyed my time nearly as much as I have on Rocky Top. Thanks to this paper.

— Austin Bornheim is a senior in journalism and electronic media. After graduation, he will be moving Michigan as a sports writer for the Herald-Palladium. Follow Austin on Twitter @ABornheim.