(no subject)
I fainted while giving my Cavalier Daily goodbye speech at the Rotunda dinner tonight. Tucker and a few other people caught me right before I hit the ground. I guess I started slurring my words a few second before I blacked out. It's so fitting, I guess - particularly with the speech I was giving.
It's been a hard week. I feel like I'm worried about everything these days. I'm worried about next year. I'm worried about my thesis. I worry if I'm living up to any standards at SAHC. I worry if I'm a good enough friend to my friends.
I miss my family alot. I call my parents and I know they want to talk but they're so busy and tired too.
I have such a monstorous headache.
Here's my speech, just for posterity. I wish I had been able to give the whole thing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Everyone,
I’m Christina Stavridis and I am the outgoing Advertising Manager. I’m not one for speeches so I’m going to keep this pretty short. I just have a quick story, a few thoughts and those obligatory yet incredibly necessary thank yous.
I’ve worked at the Cavalier Daily for a long time. And the story I’m about to tell, no one probably remembers … save me and Leah and those who have heard it second-hand, probably by me.
I applied for a job with the ads department the first day of first year and was hired by the end of the week. That Sunday night I met Peter Jackson, the 2003-2004 Ads Manager, in the basement for training.
While we were going over the intricacies of turning a .pdf into a .tif I started to feel dizzy and a slightly ill. Intimidated by the force that was Peter Jackson, I kept my mouth shut and tried to concentrate on what he was saying.
Suddenly and with very little warning, I started seeing stars and then, the room turned to black.
The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground with my head in Peter’s lap, staring up at the entirety of the Cavalier Daily. I had fainted and blacked out for a period of several seconds on my first day at the CD. From there, the dashing beyond dashing 2004 CFO, Guillaume de Tourquet took me in his arms and laid me down on the prod couch.
To make a short story, shorter - the paramedics came, Greg Scanlon laughed and I went back to dorms to have a Cyclopes burger from the castle.
Under normal circumstances, I would have been mortified. I was 17, fainted off a stool and knocked myself unconscious on my first day in the office. Even still, I was OK. For some reason, I wasn’t embarrassed at all. Instead I just came back the next day, blushed when Guillaume asked me how I was, and learned how to page edit.
I should have known right there, from the comfort I felt that first unforgettable evening down in the basement, just how special the Cavalier Daily and its staff are.
In all truth, though, for a long time I looked at The Cavalier Daily as a simply job. I worked my office hours in the morning, managed to never attend an epic-Cavalier Daily karaoke event or even gather by the water cooler. At elections last year, I remember looking around a knowing only a few scattered faces.
Working on the Ads Staff is, I’m told, a very different experience then working for the rest of the paper. We work during the business day, frequently sitting in our small, cold office alone, warming our hands by the sewage pipe. It’s easy as an ads staffer to remain very separated from the rest of the culture of the paper.
It wasn’t until last spring, when I started my term as Ads Manager that I began to understand and appreciate what a unique organization the Cavalier Daily is. Spending hours in the basement checking up on accounts and collection, I finally began to get to know the editors and staffers that I had worked only feet away from for three years.
My time at the Cavalier Daily, particularly over the last year, will be what I remember most when I look back on my time in college. From tackling daunting financial issues with the help of the MB to working with some of the most competent people I have ever encountered, the Cavalier Daily has taught me more about business and life than any class I have taken at the University.
I can’t imagine in 15 years I’ll remember having weekly meetings with Chris from Mincer’s or threatening to send Dixie Divas to a collection agency. Instead, I know I’ll remember sending Kathleen and Mike 1000 word emails back and forth about our financial situation. I’ll remember our heroic $41,000 check day and the subsequent check dance.
And even more importantly, I’ll remember conversations with friends while writing papers in the basement at 4 AM and our epic ads dinners at Mas. And finally, I know I’ll never forget reminding the student body to call their mother and of the importance of dinner dates.
So those are my thoughts.
And now for just a few thank yous…
Thank you to the Ads Staff … keeping with the elusive tradition of ads staffers, there are only a few of us here tonight, but thank you for everything that you do. Even though your name isn’t printed in the paper, your work is invaluable. Preston and Tucker, my fellow 4th Years, the Ads Department won’t be the same without you. Your finesse and ability to charm people over the phone simply cannot be matched. It’s been truly great to work with all of you. Keep up the fantastic work.
Thank you to this year’s Managing Board. I’ve heard that great leadership is tackling both the big and the small. I can’t think of a better description of this year’s outgoing MB. This paper would not be where it is today without your guidance and unshakable perseverance.
Kathleen, you have been - and I swear I wrote this last night - a rock-star. You’ve been fantastic to work with and an even better friend. I don’t need to wish you luck because I know that you’re going to accomplish amazing things.
Mike, you have become one my greatest friends. It’s funny, I don’t remember a time when we didn’t know each other. From calling delinquent advertisers over the summer with other members of the MB to our incredible double-date at Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs in Annapolis with Pat and Leah - this past year you have been a constant source of friendship, support, and, above all, information. In short, you know a lot about a lot. I wish you nothing but the best and look forward to being friends for a long time.
And finally, to the entire staff: I am so privileged to have gotten to know so many of you. Thank you for the complete dedication that each of you have for putting out an incredible product every single day. Content, and nothing else, measures the success of a paper and I can surely say that you have broken the bar.
And so, to close, even though it’s four years after I fainted in the backroom, I now really understand why I always felt so comfortable at the Cavalier Daily.
This semester after exploring the 5th floor of Newcomb with Becca and Teresa, being pummeled by Michelle on the football field, and singing the Phantom of the Opera theme at Final Roll, I have truly become a Cavalier Daily convert.
Looking up tonight, around me I see group of people who I truly admire and feel lucky to count as friends.
It's been a hard week. I feel like I'm worried about everything these days. I'm worried about next year. I'm worried about my thesis. I worry if I'm living up to any standards at SAHC. I worry if I'm a good enough friend to my friends.
I miss my family alot. I call my parents and I know they want to talk but they're so busy and tired too.
I have such a monstorous headache.
Here's my speech, just for posterity. I wish I had been able to give the whole thing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Everyone,
I’m Christina Stavridis and I am the outgoing Advertising Manager. I’m not one for speeches so I’m going to keep this pretty short. I just have a quick story, a few thoughts and those obligatory yet incredibly necessary thank yous.
I’ve worked at the Cavalier Daily for a long time. And the story I’m about to tell, no one probably remembers … save me and Leah and those who have heard it second-hand, probably by me.
I applied for a job with the ads department the first day of first year and was hired by the end of the week. That Sunday night I met Peter Jackson, the 2003-2004 Ads Manager, in the basement for training.
While we were going over the intricacies of turning a .pdf into a .tif I started to feel dizzy and a slightly ill. Intimidated by the force that was Peter Jackson, I kept my mouth shut and tried to concentrate on what he was saying.
Suddenly and with very little warning, I started seeing stars and then, the room turned to black.
The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground with my head in Peter’s lap, staring up at the entirety of the Cavalier Daily. I had fainted and blacked out for a period of several seconds on my first day at the CD. From there, the dashing beyond dashing 2004 CFO, Guillaume de Tourquet took me in his arms and laid me down on the prod couch.
To make a short story, shorter - the paramedics came, Greg Scanlon laughed and I went back to dorms to have a Cyclopes burger from the castle.
Under normal circumstances, I would have been mortified. I was 17, fainted off a stool and knocked myself unconscious on my first day in the office. Even still, I was OK. For some reason, I wasn’t embarrassed at all. Instead I just came back the next day, blushed when Guillaume asked me how I was, and learned how to page edit.
I should have known right there, from the comfort I felt that first unforgettable evening down in the basement, just how special the Cavalier Daily and its staff are.
In all truth, though, for a long time I looked at The Cavalier Daily as a simply job. I worked my office hours in the morning, managed to never attend an epic-Cavalier Daily karaoke event or even gather by the water cooler. At elections last year, I remember looking around a knowing only a few scattered faces.
Working on the Ads Staff is, I’m told, a very different experience then working for the rest of the paper. We work during the business day, frequently sitting in our small, cold office alone, warming our hands by the sewage pipe. It’s easy as an ads staffer to remain very separated from the rest of the culture of the paper.
It wasn’t until last spring, when I started my term as Ads Manager that I began to understand and appreciate what a unique organization the Cavalier Daily is. Spending hours in the basement checking up on accounts and collection, I finally began to get to know the editors and staffers that I had worked only feet away from for three years.
My time at the Cavalier Daily, particularly over the last year, will be what I remember most when I look back on my time in college. From tackling daunting financial issues with the help of the MB to working with some of the most competent people I have ever encountered, the Cavalier Daily has taught me more about business and life than any class I have taken at the University.
I can’t imagine in 15 years I’ll remember having weekly meetings with Chris from Mincer’s or threatening to send Dixie Divas to a collection agency. Instead, I know I’ll remember sending Kathleen and Mike 1000 word emails back and forth about our financial situation. I’ll remember our heroic $41,000 check day and the subsequent check dance.
And even more importantly, I’ll remember conversations with friends while writing papers in the basement at 4 AM and our epic ads dinners at Mas. And finally, I know I’ll never forget reminding the student body to call their mother and of the importance of dinner dates.
So those are my thoughts.
And now for just a few thank yous…
Thank you to the Ads Staff … keeping with the elusive tradition of ads staffers, there are only a few of us here tonight, but thank you for everything that you do. Even though your name isn’t printed in the paper, your work is invaluable. Preston and Tucker, my fellow 4th Years, the Ads Department won’t be the same without you. Your finesse and ability to charm people over the phone simply cannot be matched. It’s been truly great to work with all of you. Keep up the fantastic work.
Thank you to this year’s Managing Board. I’ve heard that great leadership is tackling both the big and the small. I can’t think of a better description of this year’s outgoing MB. This paper would not be where it is today without your guidance and unshakable perseverance.
Kathleen, you have been - and I swear I wrote this last night - a rock-star. You’ve been fantastic to work with and an even better friend. I don’t need to wish you luck because I know that you’re going to accomplish amazing things.
Mike, you have become one my greatest friends. It’s funny, I don’t remember a time when we didn’t know each other. From calling delinquent advertisers over the summer with other members of the MB to our incredible double-date at Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs in Annapolis with Pat and Leah - this past year you have been a constant source of friendship, support, and, above all, information. In short, you know a lot about a lot. I wish you nothing but the best and look forward to being friends for a long time.
And finally, to the entire staff: I am so privileged to have gotten to know so many of you. Thank you for the complete dedication that each of you have for putting out an incredible product every single day. Content, and nothing else, measures the success of a paper and I can surely say that you have broken the bar.
And so, to close, even though it’s four years after I fainted in the backroom, I now really understand why I always felt so comfortable at the Cavalier Daily.
This semester after exploring the 5th floor of Newcomb with Becca and Teresa, being pummeled by Michelle on the football field, and singing the Phantom of the Opera theme at Final Roll, I have truly become a Cavalier Daily convert.
Looking up tonight, around me I see group of people who I truly admire and feel lucky to count as friends.