Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

By Dallas Ducar ’10
Co-editor in Chief

As I sit at my computer, clacking away at the keyboard while my bright lamp illuminates a few items on my desk (red pen, reporter’s notebook and recorder) I am reminded of the many times I have been in this deadline situation.

However, this time is different. This is my last edition in as Editor in Chief, the last time I will be pressured by the infamous deadline and perhaps the final words I will ever publish in The Roundup.

I don’t mean to be melodramatic and count “lasts”; it’s just interesting how journalism can correlate to life in general.

For the two years I have been at The Roundup, after one edition hit the newsstands, the next one would already be in the works, giving us hardly a moment to rest.

Personally, I found that I would always be focused on the edition at hand, planning to get it from the presses to the people, yet I always expected work the day after the edition was released. This is why it is strange to finally reach the conclusion.

Not just in the newsroom, but in school, work and life, whenever we as humans reach an end to something, we tend to get pretty shaken up inside.

The only comfort many of us have is that it is not truly the end.

For me, college is just around the corner and I will continue journalism there.

However, if there is one thing that my years at The Roundup have taught me, it is to not take the idea of “the next issue” for granted.

My experience at this publication has shown me to take every article I write and truly do it for the greater glory of God, not just as a requirement.

I believe, as a senior class, we know this and have experienced this more than many of our predecessors. We have amazing students, athletes and scholars, but best of all we all know how to make school fun.

Perhaps our eyes were really opened to this when our beloved classmate Robby Mayasich ’10 passed away, showing each and every one of us how valuable life really is and how many people really love us.

Or, perhaps we were shown this through retreats we may have ventured on, late nights we spent with friends chowing down on Taco Bell’s “fourth meal” or just staring up at the stars in solitude.

Basically, I would just like to offer this simple advice: Seize each moment in the day and never sit expecting the next day to come.

Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, try to not bite off more than you can chew, love life, don’t freak too much about grades and remember to chill.

Seniors, we have a new chapter in our lives coming up; let’s try to make every second count.

Perhaps this column can be best summarized in the wisdom provided from the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

This is Dallas Ducar, signing off.