By Danielle Modica | May 1, 2023
The past three years have been a whirlwind. And yes, I’m accounting for the brutal Albany winds.
A photo of the University at Albany carillon tower from my Colonial Quad dorm.
Photo Credit: Danielle Modica / The ASP
I first joined the Albany Student Press in 2020, as a naive COVID-19 pandemic online freshman. No experience with Associated Press (AP) Style, all I knew was my small hometown’s high school newspaper “Periscope.” I wrote a crude interview on UAlbany alum and spoken word poet Fanta Ballo in February 2021, and steamrolled from there.
Without the freedom of creativity the ASP provided me with, I would not be where I am today (as cliché as it sounds). I began to involve my passion for music into my writing for the first time, creating a “Ten NYS Musicians you Need to Check Out” playlist. At 19-years-old, my article getting reposted by local musicians on social media was the most exciting thing I thought could ever happen to me. I created the ASP Spotify account shortly thereafter, making two playlists dedicated to the main UAlbany fountain closure.
That summer I was offered an internship at NYS Music, where I still freelance and have written over 40 articles for. Three months later, I was trusted with the role of social media manager for the ASP, and worked my way up the ranks to executive editor and now editor-in-chief, to which I am endlessly grateful for the opportunity of holding.
Because of my experience through the ASP, I’ve gotten opportunities to work part time at local music venues, cover more WCDB events, reported live from a beabadoobee concert, diverged into concert photography, and even started a series documenting the Albany underground music scene with Managing Editor Teresa Pavia called “It Sounds Better in the Basement.”
Thanks to the ASP, my career has not only gotten a kickstart, but I made life-defining friends and connections along the way.
Through my toughest times at UAlbany, the people I met at the Albany Student Press became my closest friends and Albany family. Over the past three years, I have grown to be not only a better writer, but a brand new, more outgoing person with a bright outlook on life.
The ASP has always been a constant in my undergraduate career, and watching it blossom after being rebuilt has been a pleasure. I hope my term as editor-in-chief has only continued to perpetuate the comradery and positive culture that I love the most about the ASP.
I’ll cherish our Sunday meetings sharing our roses and thorns, and sitting in our little office during late-nights on Thursdays. I’ll think of the dinky Wix website (with a search bar that chooses when to work or not - but a search bar nevertheless) fondly.
All of our efforts have come to the culmination of over 500 articles in the past year, a new office, strong staff & reporters, and a slowly (but surely) improving relationship with the Student Association (thanks to Henry Fisher, our “Olive Garden” branch).
You thought the ASP could go one article without mentioning the Student Association? Keep dreaming.
Thank you to my friends and EIC predecessors, Tessa Sutherland, Meghan Brink and Sumaiya Nasir, as well as my friend and managing editor Teresa Pavia for pulling me out of my darkest times, laughing at my dumb jokes, and always seeing the potential in me, even during times that I didn’t see much at all.
Endless thank yous to my wonderful Spring 2023 staff, you are all the best editors and managers a girl could dream of. Best of luck in the years to come, I have strong trust in the current and future leaders of the ASP. Remember, “person said.” It’s never “said person.”
Long live student publications, long live the Albany Student Press.