As the Lifestyle Editor, I’ve spoken with a lot of interesting people doing a lot of really interesting things around the university and community.

After deciding on my stories each week and doing a little bit of research, I come up with a list of names to interview about my topic.

And sure, at first they’re just names in the directory hidden behind an email address or phone number, but behind every single one is a story.

There’s risk-taking COBE professors who willingly decide to rappel down the side of stadiums just to do it.

There are parents balancing hours of schoolwork, jobs and family time.

There are groups that focus entirely on visiting and spending time with elderly people in nursing homes around the area or helping future teachers excel in what they love way before stepping into the classroom.

There are freshmen just getting into organizations and seniors saying goodbye to something they spent the last four years of their lives contributing to.

There are staff members and students who see a problem on campus or in the community and go as far as possible to remedy it, just for the sake of others.

A lot of times, it’s easy to just walk to class on your own or get comfortable in your group of friends, and sometimes that’s okay.

The only problem is, by doing that there’s a lot that you could miss out on because at the end of the day there are 11,000 other students on campus with 11,000 other stories to tell.

And sure, I haven’t met everyone or heard all of the stories there are to tell, but I’ve met enough Warhawks to know that it’s worth taking that extra few minutes before class or on your walk home to simply talk to each other.