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Hello everyone! I hope you all have seen that we’ve officially announced the hiring of our new managing editor for the Citizen, Abenezer Yonas! I’m extremely excited for him to get the opportunity to cover this coun- ty, and I know he’ll do a great job! Take a look next week for a word from man himself before he fully immerses into giving this county the coverage it needs.
With that being said, this week marks my last with the paper as Thursday will be my last day before I move on to my new place of employment. I’ll be helping out a bit with some of next week’s paper too, but there’s a possibility that you might not see my byline in that edition before you stop seeing it entirely. I’m going to miss this area so much, and I’ll forever be grateful for how much I’ve felt a part of the community since I’ve been here.
The story I want to tell today is about one of my first feature stories with the Citizen that made it into one of the first editions of our award-winning quarterly magazine. The reason I want to tell this story is because it was one of my first examples of just how much this community cares, and how I knew that I would be accepted and tied into this community as well.
The story was about Midtown Park in Columbus as it was receiving new musical toys and other equipment that even still stand today. I interviewed a few subjects, got some pictures of the musical equipment they added while gaining an understanding of how this community works: when something needs to get done, people here put their heads and hands together as a collective until it’s done.
I saw just how much care and passion this community has for the youth, creating safe places for their kids to become the future.
I also learned that while the residents in the county do so much to improve things for everyone including the youth, they don’t necessarily want the spotlight either as there were significant anonymous donations that contributed to the park improvements. Anonymous donations are something that aren’t uncommon here I’ve found. That just speaks to the true spirit of giving and service that seems to be abundant in Colorado County.
One of the people I met during the production of this story was Dr. Tom Hancher, a person I was extremely fortunate to meet so early on in my career. He became one of my first vocal supporters with my sports coverage, and I am so thankful and blessed for the times he called in to check on me or the paper because it let me know that he, among others, were still supporting both me and the paper.
While I might be leaving on to a new chapter, I pray that you will all still continue to support the paper and the people I’ve grown to view as family that will be taking up the charge in my stead. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunities I’ve gotten, the people I’ve met and the stories I’ve written during my time here. The reason I’m so excited for my friend Abenezer is that he’ll get to see just how accepting the people in this county truly are. It’s something I learned very quickly.
