There’s something very special, yet unexpected, about The Daily Northwestern’s sports road trips. 

On the surface, it’s an opportunity to travel and cover a Northwestern program outside of the confines of Evanston — an experience even some professional journalists don’t get to do. 

But to me, it was much more than that. It’s where I built some of my strongest relationships and memories at NU.

There was rarely a minute of silence in our rented enterprise cars or Alex Cervantes’ vehicle. The countless hours on the road were filled with either Patrick Andres and I’s music playlists, constant conversations about NU sports teams, or whatever crossed our minds. There was always a collective search for a post-game fast food location to cap off the trip — usually something to accommodate Angeli Mittal’s dietary restrictions or outlets to charge our computers and finish our stories.

On Nov. 11, 2023, though, our car ride back to campus felt a lot different.

Mostly silence and little to no music. It almost felt unreal, like out of a movie.

Traveling back from the football team’s road victory at Wisconsin, Cervantes, Mittal and I, alongside sophomore Jake Epstein, recognized that it was our final road trip together. 

It was a whirlwind of emotions and a chance to reminisce on our many shared experiences. There was a feeling of happiness that our schedules would begin to free up and that the ‘Cats won, yet sadness that this was our last go-around.

More importantly, though, I realized that the road trips provided us a chance to escape from reality and not worry about whatever stresses we had going on, whether that was school, life or gripes with The Daily. It gave us the opportunity to get to know each other on an intimate and personal level outside of sports. We laughed, argued and ate together nearly every weekend. 

I quickly understood that my sadness didn’t derive from it being our last hooray, but because I wouldn’t be able to hang out with friends in the same capacity ever again. I never thought I would become so close to a group of people when I started at the newspaper in Fall 2020. 

And it doesn’t just stop at the sports desk, you begin to realize the different people you’ve met throughout the years that have come and gone. The amount that you accomplished as a full-time student by day and full-time reporter by night, and how much you’ve grown as a journalist. The satisfaction of winning awards for your work and becoming an editor for three different desks in spaces that lacked Black personnel — in the newsroom and the press box. 

I couldn’t tell you how many road trips I went on throughout my time at The Daily, the number of phone calls we received from my previous sports editor Drew Schott nor the number of Welch’s Fruit Snacks I bought from the nearest gas station. But it’s safe to say that it made my tenure worthwhile and embodied my four years on Norris’s third floor. 

When asked to describe my time at The Daily, I fight between the terms battle-tested and gratitude, as both feel fitting at times. However, as this ‘road trip’ comes to an end, there’s nothing more appropriate to say than thank you.

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