I never thought this day would come.

When I first came to UT in August 2008, I was not a happy person. This was truly the last place I had wanted to attend college coming out of high school in Brentwood, Tenn., but as fate would have it, this is where I came. I thought it would be a miserable experience, being around so many people I knew from high school (I’m actually a person that likes change a lot, which may explain why I’m moving to the West Coast this summer). I didn’t think I’d make any friends here and I was just bracing myself for the start of classes. I’d wanted to go to the University of Maryland at College Park, which I did get into, but times were tough and that ended up not being possible.

I couldn’t be more glad that I did come to UT.

This is the school where I’ve made so many lasting friendships, where I met my beautiful fiancée and the love of my life, Megan, where I was given the opportunity to study abroad in Beijing for a full school year and study Mandarin, where I’ve been honored to work at the Beacon for five semesters, a place that truly has become my second home this year. I’ve enjoyed my many late nights spent at Hodges Library slaving over one paper or another, and checking out way more books than I could ever read. I’ve even enjoyed the sports, even though I’m not a sports person at all, and these past five years have been rough in that regard (during my time here, we’ve had four different football coaches and many losing seasons).

I have come to appreciate Knoxville and what it has to offer, including many excellent restaurants and the nearby mountains. I have had classes with so many wonderful professors and TAs who have really made me enjoy learning new things more than I did before I came to college. I have established so many ties here that it will be difficult to leave, but it is my time to move on to the next chapter, and I’m ready.

I have gained so much from this university and this community, and I hope that someday I can give back to them, if even just a fraction of what I’ve reaped here. These past five years have done so much to shape my worldview and help me find my place in the world as a person and as a member of society. I will miss this place, and I will miss the Beacon. The Beacon has become such a part of my life that I can’t imagine what it will feel like to wake up next Sunday and not have to come into the office at 3:30 p.m. to work on Monday’s issue. It will be nice, don’t get me wrong, but I’m afraid that I will feel like a piece of me is gone. I’m thankful for this past year at the Beacon, for editing stories, drinking tea, watching cat videos and having to suffer through rap song after rap song. I don’t know if I’ll ever have an experience quite like this again.

If time could be controlled, this is the first time I would actually say that I might have wanted to slow it down, just a little, but alas, that is not the nature of time. Life continues on, whether we want it to or not, and it is best just to hold on for the ride. But whenever I look in the rearview mirror, maybe ten years down the road, I’ll see the Beacon and the years I’ve spent here, and I’ll find that that piece wasn’t missing after all — I don’t think the Beacon, or UT, can, or will, ever leave me completely.

Peace out.

— Eric Nalley is a senior in economics. He will be moving to Los Angeles this summer to teach with City Year, an AmeriCorps program, and eventually plans to go to law school. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @EricCNalley.