By Dan Pomykalski

The past four and a half years at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater have been filled with a number of great experiences. Besides getting engaged to my fiancé and adopting two cats, one of the greatest experiences was working for the Royal Purple.
I officially became the photo editor around the end of January, and for the first few weeks, I would go into the office, sit at my computer, and focus intently on nothing but getting the photos edited; often without saying much more than a few sentences.
As time went on, I began to talk to more of my fellow editors, quickly becoming closer to them. It wasn’t long until the editors at the Royal Purple were some of my best friends.
It was an easy decision to return to the Royal Purple for the fall semester. I knew my final semester would seem to last only a second or two, and I was right. After the first few issues of fall semester, I realized how little time I really had left at the paper.
For the past two semesters, I have had nothing but regrets. Every production night, meeting, or general interaction I have with the Royal Purple staff makes me wish I would have been involved with the paper much sooner than I was.
Working at the Royal Purple has been one of the highlights of my college career, and will be an experience that will be hard to forget. This is one of the first times I have ever been forced to leave a job, and I often joked that I was going to take one class spring semester so I could return as the photo editor.
Knowing that I’m leaving with not only valuable experience, but also life-long friendships, makes leaving slightly more bearable.