At 21 years old, I am the poorest I’ll ever be, but also the richest. My father used to tell me that my four years at college would fly by. I never took those words seriously, but man are they sobering now.
I started my journey here at Ohio University differently than any other incoming class. Everyone was learning to adapt to a new digital world, and in-person activities were limited, yet I saw a sliver of something I wouldn’t fully learn until today: the value of time. I am incredibly rich in stories — but I’m not talking about the ones I wrote.
I joined The Post at the start of my sophomore year as a culture writer. I was clueless about the scene of student media at OU, but I knew I had to make the most of my three years remaining. I wanted to make an impact.
I found my way into multiple organizations and contributed in varying ways. From a brief run at Thread Magazine to a year spent with WOUB, the feeling of needing to “do it all” quickly consumed me.
One of my good friends would tell me sophomore year that I “must be on something” when it came to how much I was doing at the time. I was so obsessed with positioning myself to be the best fit for post-graduate life that I started to forget about the process and the time I had as a student.
Despite trying to do everything, I still couldn’t find a team I deeply connected with, I began to feel as if time was evaporating. During this time, I simply didn’t understand the value of time itself.
Looking back, it’s not the specific stories I wrote, videos I created or podcasts I edited that I remember best, but rather the people I met while working on these projects, many of whom would eventually have a piece in my bigger picture.
Multimedia at The Post was almost non-existent when I first joined compared to today. I saw the opportunity to build a team of multimedia creators and produce much more video and audio content than we ever had before. This was how I would make my impact. This would be the team I would make the strongest connections.
I didn’t have much to work with. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks into the 2022-23 school year that I got an assistant role approved, and I selected Donovan Hunt to take the job. He became not just the first-ever Assistant Director of Multimedia, but also someone who would make my time at The Post invaluable.
Over the first few months, we began to build a team. Yes, I wanted multimedia at The Post to produce dozens of pieces of multimedia content every month, but my biggest goal was to create a culture unmatched by any other student media organization.
Come the start of the spring semester in 2023, I wanted to further my impact on The Post by creating a new opportunity for our team. After spending a month learning more about other college newspaper’s multimedia departments, I knew exactly what our next step would be.
The Post TV’s premiere occurred in February of 2023. As we prepared for our first-ever episode, it quickly became apparent that I had no idea what I was doing. Becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable is one of the hardest skills to learn, but once you do, you’ll gain so much peace of mind.
In my two years as the Director of Multimedia, we have gone from a few contributors to have had over 50 people produce hundreds of pieces of content, with over 168,000 YouTube views and thousands of podcast downloads. This should be enough to make me feel like I’ve made an impact, right?
Kendall Timms, my current assistant and next year’s director, is a vital reason why The Post TV is just about to finish out its third season. Many of our video creators would not be where they are today without the guidance of Andrew Bowlby. Our podcast team has sharpened its audio editing skills thanks to the amazing leadership of Cassie Dye. Our team is always in the loop thanks to our weekly newsletter, made possible by Hailey Dunne. Social media at The Post is stronger than ever due to the dedication of Logan Jeffries, Jenna Skidmore and Chase Borland. I remember the day all of these individuals first sat down with me. They are amazing creators, but even more so, amazing people.
Multimedia at The Post isn’t what it is because of just me. It’s because of everyone on our team. The time I’ve spent with these people, along with the whole team, is what makes my time at The Post so well spent. I am so, so rich in memories.
I am 21 years old, less than two weeks away from graduation, and I am both fully prepared for what’s next, but also completely unsure.
I don’t regret anything I have done, however, there is one thing I wish I learned earlier on. Your time at OU will fly by. Again, it’s not the specific content I created that I cherish most, but instead, the people whom I got the opportunity to see grow, spend time and share stories with, that I will remember most.
And for that, I am incredibly rich. Thank you, OU. Thank you, Athens. Thank you, The Post.
Cole Patterson is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to chat with Cole about his column? Tweet him at @colepatt0717 or email him at cp676419@ohio.edu.
