Senior Memoirs: Eve Hvarre

Photo by Gerardo Trujillo

It was no surprise that I found my way to The Leader halfway through my first semester at Elmhurst University.

My older sister, who was also a student here at the time, got on me each week until I worked up the courage to finally walk into Old Main 107 that Tuesday morning in October. I couldn’t be more grateful for her encouragement.

I participated in my high school’s newspaper and yearbook and loved it, but a college newspaper full of upperclassmen who were wonderful writers intimidated me. I felt like I wasn’t going to be a strong enough writer to keep up with everyone else.

After that first meeting, I knew that I had found a home for the next four years, though I never could have imagined all the experiences and memories that would come with it.

I spent my first year as a staff writer, getting a feel for how The Leader operated. At the end of that year, I was asked to join the Editorial Board as the News Editor.

The transition felt seamless. I was quickly guided and trained and brought into the fold. The team was very well coordinated and each person was able to rely on one another. That first semester of sophomore year flew by and the next thing I knew, I was the Chief Copy Editor.

I gained the position through a “voluntell” situation because the previous Chief Copy Editor graduated and we needed someone to step up ASAP. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity.

It taught me discipline and helped me strengthen my problem-solving skills. The start of my journey as a copy editor was bumpy. I didn’t know what I was doing and had to teach myself most of the role. There were many copy edit Fridays where I questioned my qualifications and did not think that I was the right person for the job.

However, Adriana, the Editor-in-Chief at the time, always had my back. The rest of the Ed Board did as well. Anytime they could tell that I was struggling, they reminded me that I was doing a good job. Part of being a team is working through issues together.

I’ve held this role for the past two and half years, and sometimes even now, I question myself from time to time. The Ed Board has completely changed multiple times, as members have graduated and moved on to bigger things, but no matter who is on the board, they have always had my back.

There have been many texts sent at ridiculously late hours that were always answered in stride. We held Sunday productions where we spent eight, 12, or 14-plus hours poring over edits and layouts, asking each other’s thoughts and opinions.

What a lot of people don’t realize about The Leader Ed Board is that we couldn’t do it without each other. It takes a village to produce each paper.

That village has gifted me some of my favorite memories from college: copy editing at a hotel bar during ICPA, hours-long conversations about anything and everything, photoshopping goofy photos that never saw the light of day outside of The Leader office, and rants over a single headline that we couldn’t get just quite right.

Sometimes the environment was high stress, but even during those moments, there have always been laughs.

That’s the beauty of The Leader. Every staff writer, editor, and our lovely faculty advisor Eric — we’re a team that supports one another no matter the hardship.

I’m going to miss The Leader, but it’s finally time to pass the torch to the next Chief Copy Editor so they too can experience that village of support — even if that includes losing their mind over a single sentence for 20 minutes at least once a month.