I just sat down, anxious to write my senior column and yet, I was just not 100 percent on what to say. I mean, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian has been (with the exception of my wonderful girlfriend, Jen) the biggest part of my college life.

I’ve spent a lot of time down there in that little newsroom in the bowels of the Campus Center. It’s kept me hostage waiting for women’s sports game to finish up at 11 p.m., it’s dragged me down for staff meetings and it’s held an unrelenting grip on me way past my 9 p.m. punch-out time as a copy editor.

But don’t get me wrong ‘- I’ve loved every minute of it. (Well, almost every minute, anyway).

Though his name eludes me at the moment, a famous journalist once said, ‘I sincerely feel sorry for anyone who has never worked for a newspaper.’ Well put, Mr. Man-whose-name-I-can’t-seem-to-remember.

Working for a daily newspaper ‘- especially New England’s oldest and largest college daily ‘- is definitely a great experience.

It comes with a tremendous feeling of responsibility and joy knowing that your hard work is what keeps the members of your community in tune with what is going on, whether it’s profiling certain members for their achievements, keeping them abreast (hehe, a breast) of what their government is doing or simply giving them the news of the day.

The Collegian ‘- though not perfect ‘- does that for the UMass community. It has also given me the opportunity to hone my skills at the craft I love ‘- and for that I am eternally grateful. I don’t mean this as a clich’eacute;, but it really does seem like just yesterday when I walked into The Collegian office looking to start working there. I know I’ve told this story before, but I’m going to tell it again, so shut up and keep reading.

In 2005, a family friend gave my parents and me a spring tour of campus. He also told us about this daily newspaper called ‘The Collegian,’ and said it was one of the best college papers in the country. When I returned to campus for an official tour I made it a point to find a copy of The Collegian.

When I did, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The front-page headline said that the swans and ducks in the campus pond had been electrocuted by a cell phone, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin had gotten into a slapping and mud wrestling match and the sports section said Doug Flutie was ‘a pint-sized quarterback and all-around dickhead.’

As it would turn out, that was The Collegian’s April’s Fool Day edition (or ‘The Morning Wood’). When my freshman year started I began writing for cross-country when then-sports editor Jeff Howe gave me my first beat in early October. I have been a Collegianite since then.

I’ve learned a lot of this business and made some good friends ‘- all of whom have helped me along the way. And because it is impossible for me to thank you all, I will thank you collectively: Thank you everyone at The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Thank you for everything you have given me and taught me.

I will never forget any of it and I will miss you all.

Domenic Poli was a Collegian copy editor. He can be reached at [email protected].