As I write this article, I truly cannot believe how fast all of the past few years have gone by. I've reflected on this fact a lot lately — as senior year of college makes you do.

I started writing for Odyssey my second semester of freshman year. I remember applying randomly, hoping to get as much writing experience as possible. I had always seen the articles shared online and thought, "you know what, I could do that."

The former EIC emailed me on my freshman year Spring break, telling me that she'd like to set up an interview with me. I remember being incredibly nervous, but I survived and became a part of the team.

Over the past years, I've written a lot of stuff. Some of it, quite frankly, just to make deadline, while others were much longer, thoughtful and were subjects I was more passionate about. I've written things that have been shared tens of thousands of times. I've written things that only my mom read.

My sophomore year, I got the opportunity to become a contributing editor. This basically meant I helped the current EIC edit content for the week while also writing my weekly article(s). This was a role I truly loved since I... ahem, love grammar far more than the average individual.

Now, I have been Editor in Chief for the UGA community for over a year. Getting promoted to EIC was one of my proudest accomplishments while in college and showed me that commitment to working for a team can truly pay off.

As I am graduating, I will be leaving the role, and, ultimately, Odyssey itself. The past three and half years with the Odyssey have been good to me. I've learned how to work on deadline, gotten to do more creative writing that my major would never allow, reached wide audiences — and maybe even had an impact on some people.

Thank you to the Odyssey for always giving me a place to use my voice, my talents and express myself. Thank you for teaching me how to work on deadline, and most importantly, to always follow all grammar rules.

To the future writers and the next EIC, although writing and editing each week can feel like a grind… it's so worth it. Realize that using your voice is a gift and we are lucky to have a platform that allows us to do so…

Signing off… Alyssa Alves, EIC UGA