My reign as Editor-in-Chief of The George-Anne has come to an end. It’s time to graduate and find a big girl job — easier said than done with a liberal arts degree, am I right?

I could go on for days about all of the little things I learned or all of the people I met, how my life was changed thanks to this paper and organization, but I think I’ll address something different.

I’m talking about you, G-A haters.

Whether everyone realizes this or not, there are people behind “The George-Anne.” It’s not some omniscient entity that tropes around trying to annoy you. We’re people, and we have a job, a mission. We have feelings. We’re students who do student things like go to class 15 hours a week. We have exams and homework. We enjoy happy hour. We use Facebook, Twitter, Yik Yak and Instagram.

We read a lot of the things people say about us, all of the sweet, encouraging, heart-warming things.

Aug. 27, 2013

We received a tweet in reference to a football prediction that did not go in the Eagles’ favor. So a kind follower gave our football reporter some great advice: “NEVER EVER pick our rival to win the football game. EVER. You are an idiot. That is all.” We appreciate your school spirit, dear follower, but our writer made a prediction based on stats and records. He did end up being wrong though, and we did make fun of him for months.

Sept. 17, 2013

It was a Tuesday. Our front page read “Thursday” in the flag, however. Luckily for us a Twitter follower was sure to let us know. “@TheGeorgeAnne y’all misprinted the date on your paper today its Tuesday… Some bad editing right there” This particular follower was even sure to include a photo so we wouldn’t miss that error we likely had already discovered.

April 1, 2014

All Fool’s Day landed on a Tuesday this year, which happens to be one of the two days The G-A prints during the week. It was business as usual for us; aside from a couple of office pranks, there was no time for jokes. The Twitterverse didn’t disappoint in making sure everyone got a good laugh though! One follower shared a real knee-slapper: “‘We will be smart enough to print a decent and competent paper, #AprilFools.’ – @TheGeorgeAnne.” HARDY HAR HAR I see what you did there, you clever tweeter you.

In all seriousness, everyone at The George-Anne really does appreciate the feedback, good and bad, and we’ve learned how to accept and correct our mistakes. I personally love the negative stuff. I’m not sure how well versed the GSU community is on media perceptions these days, but for someone graduating with a degree in journalism next week, it’s not looking so great if I want to be loved and adored by hundreds.

So I wanna say thank you ‘cause it makes me that much stronger, makes me work a little bit harder. It makes me that much wiser, so thanks for making me a fighter. (Yeah, those are Christina Aguilera lyrics.)

Shelby Farmer will graduate next week with a B.S. in journalism. She was a part of Student Media for over two years and spent her last year as the Editor-in-Chief. She currently has no idea what she’s doing after graduation. Do you know anyone hiring journalists?