To paraphrase journalist, writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron:

Don’t you just love Michigan in the fall? It makes me want to go out and buy school supplies.

Yes, I swapped Michigan for New York, but I still think it perfectly encapsulates how the changing seasons conjure feelings of optimism and new beginnings.

Sure, OU isn’t in the center of a bustling metropolis like New York City, but considering the daily struggle of trying to find a parking spot, one might think otherwise.

People are back on campus. Really back. It’s exciting!

It’s probably painfully obvious to anyone who has met me, but I was the kind of kid who loved going back to school.

Learning new things, meeting new people and taking on new challenges sparked my light. It still does.

I started my undergraduate studies in the fall of 2019. There are so, so, so, so many things I could never have fathomed happening that did between then and now.

We can probably all agree that the last three years have been, well…. a cluster-expletive.

Times have been tough, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter every day.

When planning the first issue of the fall semester, The Post tries to keep in mind what first-year students or anyone new to campus might want to know.

We have written articles to inform you of such things, and please do read them, but what I’m trying to convey in this letter is that I hope through your experiences at OU, you find something that illuminates you to be your best self.

You might not find it right away. Or maybe you will. Maybe it will be easy for you. Maybe it won’t. You might even lose it along the way.

After all, what is life without trials and tribulations?

Whatever your interests may be, there is something for you here. And if there isn’t, start something.

This is a community built upon the gifts that we each bring to the table.

One thing I’ve learned from my time here at OU is that you never know what opportunities can arise from initiation.

Introduce yourself. Go to a student organization meeting. Talk to a professor during office hours. Perhaps most importantly, ask questions.

Here at The Post, we find our light by serving the public interest of our community as an entity separate from the university, and being a platform for campus discussion as well as a learning lab for future journalists.

As I mentioned in my first letter of Vol. 48, we hope for an unprecedented level of community engagement. We welcome news story suggestions, letters to the editor and comments to spark community discussion on our online platform.

Please pick up a paper or jump online to our website to stay informed and encourage your colleagues, classmates and fellow OU community members to do the same.

Thank you for your continued support.