Working at The New Hampshire has been one of the most valuable experiences I’ve had at UNH. I remember walking into my first contributors meeting freshman year, nervous that the editors would be like J. Jonah Jameson in Spiderman: cigar-chomping truthers who wanted a god-damned story and pictures of Spiderman at all costs. Luckily, this couldn’t be further from the truth; the TNH newsroom was full of kind-hearted, down-to-earth students who gave me a place and a passion during a really difficult time in my life. And they only kind-of wanted pictures of Spiderman. 

As I eventually became a staff writer and then arts editor, I continued to meet more and more people that not only were passionate about writing, but also about helping each other succeed. I could go on and on about how vital the hands-on journalistic experience at TNH was, and how I learned to work with a team to accomplish a shared goal every week despite the constant pressures and stresses that come with that. But instead, I want to talk about the people and memories I’ll never forget. 

First, there’s the bearded baritone managing editor who hit puberty before he walked into daycare, Ian Lennyhand. He’s the person who convinced me to apply for arts editor even though I had no idea what an arts editor does or how I’d be able to talk in front of a room of people and read pitches out loud. Without him, I never would’ve experienced the godless place that is the windowless newsroom on a Wednesday night at 1 a.m., I never would’ve been so entranced with reading what essentially became his daily column on benny boi pounding London broil while listening to Lindsey Lohan’s 2000 pop hits like it was his destiny and I never would’ve learned of my true namesake, Bart “Nathan” Jagda.  

From there, I worked with so many great people it’ll be hard to list them all, but hell, here’s my best attempt. Mike LastName. That Bearded Guy. Kevin Phillycheesteak. Sam Eggman, whose Christopher Walken and Jay-Z impressions will blow your mind. Katie, one of the kindest and hardest working people I’ve ever met who reminded me of the power of a Chili’s dumpster in Dover at 2 a.m. Maddie, who wrote an amazing weekly column on all the books she read and kept us updated on the happenings of her lovely neighbors. Bret, Emily, Josh, Hannah and the many, many more amazing people I worked with—wait, how could I forget the man, the myth, the legend, Benjamin Blanco Strawbridge, who wrote 2,000-word articles in his sleep (literally). 

In all seriousness, I worked alongside so many great people and grew so much as a writer, editor and person during my time at TNH, I couldn’t be more thankful for all the great times we had. And finally, I’m not even a senior, so not sure why I’m even writing this.