When I found out I was going to get to write a column saying goodbye, I had no idea how I would even begin to write such a thing. There is far too much to say than will ever fit in this paper.

Then I got inspiration from possibly the weirdest place I’ve ever gotten inspiration: Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax.” It’s a movie my family has watched on a screen in the back of the family van so many times on vacation that my dad can quote despite having never technically seen it.

At the end of both the book and the movie, when Ted asks The Once-ler what can be done, he simply replies, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.”

That quote came to mind because I am so ridiculously lucky to be surrounded by co-workers here at the Daily Egyptian that care a whole awful lot about SIU and the surrounding communities.

Over the last couple months, fellow reporter Brayden Guy and photographer Daylin Williams have been following the story of controversy surrounding the village of Cambria police chief. They’ve received threats from their reporting, but they’ve continued anyway because they think our readers deserve to know what’s going on. Thank you Brayden and Daylin.

News editor Jackson Brandhorst and senior editor Lylee Gibbs knocked on doors in Du Quoin in mid-February to track down a story about six men getting arrested by ICE agents. Then, weeks later, they worked to uncover information regarding a sexual abuse scandal of a Carterville assistant football coach. They did this knowing there could be blowback, especially regarding the ICE story, but did it anyway to make sure our readers knew what was going on in their communities. Thank you Jackson and Lylee.

Editor-in-chief Carly Gist has put herself in the thick of it multiple times for a story. She traveled all the way to Bloomington, Indiana back in October to give the Indiana Daily Student’s fight with University of Indiana administration more attention. And more recently, she uncovered an internal struggle over SIU Provost Sheryl Tucker stepping down. Thank you Carly.

I could give examples for just about everyone on staff here at the Daily Egyptian. From Kristin Borchers’ reporting on the rise of Risepoint, to Mariah Fletcher’s in-depth look at how the McLeod Theater renovations are affecting theater students, to Noah Petschke and Riley Sembler driving nearly an hour each way in the snow to cover Jamisen Green breaking the Harrisburg High School girl’s basketball all-time career scoring record, everyone has a story they went above and beyond for. Thank you Kristin, Mariah, Noah, Riley, and every other reporter and photographer.

It doesn’t stop at the students either. Professors Molly Parker and Julia Rendleman have contributed to reporting and spent countless hours and late nights helping us through assignments, both for classes and the DE, making sure we are the best writers and photographers we possibly can be. Thank you Molly and Julia.

I couldn’t talk about helpful SIU employees without mentioning Daily Egyptian faculty editor Alee Quick. She trusted me to help shape our sports coverage here at the DE despite not joining until this past August. She has gone through every article I’ve written over the past year and has always had at least one piece of advice for me afterward. There is no way I am as good of a journalist I am today without her. Thank you Alee.

I am so incredibly proud of our sports coverage this year at the DE. None of that happens without Nick Pfannkuche, Noah Petschke, Aaron Carnahan, Leo Castro and Will Elliott.

Noah and I are the only ones that were here the whole year, and there is no one else I would have rather gone through this year with. 

Nick did an amazing job leading our football coverage in the fall, his final semester here at SIU. 

Aaron came in late in the spring semester, but his growth while covering Saluki softball in that short time has been incredible. 

Leo jumped in during the spring crossover season to finish out our coverage of a much improved women’s basketball team and never skipped a beat. 

While Will only wrote one sports article for us, I am still incredibly thankful that he was able to step to the plate during such a busy weekend. Thank you Nick, Noah, Aaron, Leo and Will.

None of what I write gets to newsstands without our amazing design team. Each one of the five members of our design team at one point or another had to deal with either making my vague idea for a graphic the incredible final design it became, or sat there in the office waiting for me to turn in a game story that was way past the weekly deadline so they could finish putting together that week’s paper. Thank you David Starr-Fleming, Yasmin Martinez-Powell, James Jamason, Dena Rendleman and AJ Sullivan. 

I have had the pleasure of writing at least one article about nine different Saluki sports throughout the year. None of that coverage happens without the sports information directors here at SIU granting me access, and the coaches and athletes of those sports taking time out of their busy schedules to sit down or sit on the phone with me. Thank you SIDs, coaches and athletes.

Lastly, none of this happens without you reading this. I could write 1,000 words a day but it wouldn’t matter if no one wanted to read it. You read the articles, commented and shared the posts on social media, messaged me with ideas and gave feedback when necessary. You are a huge part of what we do here at the DE. Thank you, dear reader.

I realize this is supposed to be my goodbye, and I’m over 900 words in with only one mention of myself. The truth of the matter is, I’m not who I am without any of the people I’ve mentioned. Thanking them is far more important than anything I could say about myself.

For now, I say au revoir, because I have no doubt I will see everyone again.

For the time being, you can find Sports Reporter Eli Hoover at [email protected]. You can always find him on Instagram @hoovermakesart

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