Farewells From Our Graduating Staff

Senior editors holding their work from the year. Top: Lucy Baldino '25, Jamie Holtzman '25 and Lizzie Baumgardner '25. Bottom: Amanda Nessel and Kyle Esoian. Photo by Ava Battinelli '26.

Kyle Esoian

As my time with The Circle comes to a close, I’ve often been finding myself saying, “I wish I had more time.” I honestly still believe that, because as time has gone on, writing and being an editor, my ideas for the paper and where it could go have only grown. 

I’d attribute that to my experience with The Circle as a whole. I think the number one piece of advice I’d give to new editors, after being the co-opinion editor and then the co-managing editor, is to not let things stagnate or get boring. I always tried my best to make things fresh and exciting and add new things, and get rid of things that weren’t working. 

The Circle helped me realize that I’m more creative than I thought. I didn’t realize I had so many ideas for something until I was actively gaining experience from said thing. I’ve become a better writer, a better reader and honestly, a better listener – an underrated quality – during my time with the paper. 

All this to say, join The Circle! Don’t let people tell you that you can’t be an editor, that you can’t have ideas or that you can’t create something new. People don’t know what they don’t know – and it’s really up to the new team of staff, contributors, writers and editors, to champion the things about The Circle we didn’t even realize could be done. 

Thanks to Andrew Breen ’25, Erin Holton ‘25, Ava Battinelli ‘26, Erin-Leigh Hoffman ‘24 and everyone who helped me become a better journalist and thinker while with The Circle.

Lizzie Bee

This time last year, one of my friends sent me a text saying, “Hey, no one applied to be Photo Editor for The Circle next year. Do you wanna do it?”

As a silly little junior who had only started writing for The Circle earlier that year, I thought, “Sure! What could go wrong?” Looking back, I wouldn’t say anything went terribly wrong, but I did learn a lot.

From running around to photograph so many Marist events to being hunched over my computer at 2 a.m., staring at the design budget, this experience truly opened my eyes to the beauties and struggles of running a student newspaper. Heck, I was even there for Flickr’s 21st birthday.

The photo editor position is very new, and I am deeply grateful to have been one of the first to hold this position. It challenged me in so many ways, but also taught me so much. I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.

Now, I gotta thank some people. To Rebekah Hendricks ‘24, thank you for trusting me with this position and letting me rant about all of the things. You truly are one of the best friends I have. To Andrew Breen ‘25 and Erin Holton ‘25, thank you for dealing with all my questions and funny pictures. You have some insane patience. To my Circle peeps past and present, thank you for everything. To professor Jeffrey Basinger, thank you for opening my eyes to the world of photojournalism. It quite literally changed the trajectory of my life. To Lilian DeFillippis ‘26, thank you for being the right amount of crazy for the job. I’m glad I’m handing this off to you. I’ll be rooting for you. 

Remember to upload your photos. They are truly worth a thousand words. Until next time, peace out Girl Scouts <3

Amanda Nessel

After four years of designing at the Marist Circle, I’ve finally earned the right to say: I’m done fighting InDesign (and so is my poor, poor laptop). From graphic design assistant to multimedia assistant to director of multimedia to chief of graphic design, I’ve seen The Circle from many angles.

After four years of formatting 12 pages of text every other week, I’ve gotten dangerously good at spotting incorrect line breaks and layout errors. Local businesses, better watch out: I’m on my way to critique your menu. 

Over the years, I’ve seen many generations of editors, writers and designers cycle through The Circle. While my role has mostly lived behind the scenes, The Circle has been a constant on campus, keeping me connected and giving me a place to sharpen my eye for layout, type and the fine art of making things fit. 

The Circle gave me the chance to grow creatively, lead a team and collaborate with people I genuinely admire. The Rhombus edition was truly a blessing, and made me want to consider a career in doing purposefully bad design. 

Thank you to my design team – Angie, Bella, Marisa and Christina – for reading my long messages and working with me these past couple of years. Thank you, Andrew Breen ‘25 and Erin Holton ‘25, for the support and creative freedom. To Sasha Tuddenham ‘23 (I MISS YOU), Owen Whelan ‘27 (write The Circle in Spanish), and Quinn DiFiore ‘28 – good luck taking the torch!

Jamie Holzmann

I’m starting to think it’s impossible to write a non-corny senior piece. But after four years, maybe something’s gotta give.

When I joined the Marist Circle, I was an anxious transfer student who came to Marist for the journalism classes. I went from tiny pitch meetings with five people to a packed room full of writers and editors.

Eventually, I became marketing director. Still new to journalism, distributing newspapers felt like my first real gig. My poor non-journalism friends endured just as much, driving me through freezing Poughkeepsie rain to grab stacks from Lowell Thomas and North End Dining, where I’d beg workers for scissors to cut the newspaper zip ties.

No matter the conditions, it was my first step into The Circle office and the start of my communications lore.

Now, as an editor, I’ve somehow turned my random interests into stories other people care about (I just hope my writers had as much fun writing them as I had pitching them). I always knew I loved writing, but The Circle opened my eyes to stories and opinions all around me.

I didn’t know what a “features” section entailed when I got here, but it’s grown to mean so much to me. Thank you to my current co-editor, Owen Whelan ‘27, and my former co-editor, Erin Holton ‘25, who, along with Andrew Breen ‘25, have absolutely killed it as Editors-in-Chief. Thanks to the whole team for making each edition better than the last. The future of The Circle is in great hands!

Lucy Baldino

As I am wrapping up my Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Marist, I would like to say thank you to everyone who welcomed me into the Circle with open arms. It has been an honor to empower student voices through this organization in areas of my own interest, including the art and digital media department, as well as the city/national section that I had the privilege to be a co-editor for this semester. 

Thank you to my professors, Jeffery Basinger and Kevin Lerner, for encouraging me to succeed and ask questions in the field of journalism. Thank you to my co-editor Ben Rossi ‘27 for a fun and collaborative semester, and of course, Andrew Breen ‘25 and Erin Holton ‘25 for being such kind and passionate editors-in-chief. Being a part of this club has not only expanded my journalistic skills but also has allowed me to find my voice in this world.