I Was Editor-in-Chief of the Marist Circle, Now All I Got Left is an Article Where I Talk About Myself

Co-Editor-In-Chief Andrew Breen '25 with a copy of the Circle from this semester. Photo by Ava Battinelli ‘26.

As I prepared to write my editor-in-chief's farewell, I looked back on my past Circle EICs for inspiration. It's a mountain of wonderful thank you’s and motivational stories. Mine will be the same, but the page you are reading this on will be soaked with tears because my motivational stories are so motivating that you will be motivated to motivate others (if you are reading this online, don’t cry that much, I don’t want you to destroy your computer). 

However, before I get into my sappy parables, I truly believe the editor-in-chief who started these is a monster. We all do this because we do not want to talk about ourselves. Everything we write about is not directly about us. I’ve written about a train derailment in Ohio, writer’s strikes, horror movies to watch for Halloween, pho, a Marist biking event, multiple concerts and a Swedish punk named after Viagra that sings about shrimp, yet you know what I never talk about? Myself. I will rant and rave about “Megapoopoopopolis” and failures of the electoral college, but you have to literally throw me in the Brazen Bull to talk about myself. So here we go, let's get sappy. 

I started at The Circle all the way back in sophomore year because I straight up needed something to do. I will try to sprinkle in some advice throughout – firstly, you have to do something other than class. Whether it's a club, a sport, a job or a mixture of a bunch of stuff, it's incredibly important to get out there and apply yourself to something that you legitimately enjoy. 

Thankfully, I chose a club that increasingly became essentially a second job (great pick, Andrew couldn’t have chosen the Golf Club and drank Arnold Palmers on the ninth hole). The Circle is undoubtedly a lot of work. By the time you become editor-in-chief you’re juggling writing, emails, making sure 30 plus people are getting articles in, seeing if each article has a photo and is properly cited and edited, while making sure that photo is usable so you don’t get sued and Google doesn’t get my whopping $230.92 from my bank account. 

In my junior year, I was lucky to be offered the position of Arts & Culture editor, which was really all that I expected for my Circle career. However, the Great Marist Circle gods had more in store for me. I was extremely surprised to be a Co-Managing Editor, and once again thought that it would be my highest standing. However, Erin Holton ‘25 and I were given the reins for the past semester. I personally thought it was an interesting decision to have someone who hasn’t taken a single journalism course to co-run a newspaper, but I thankfully had a pro with Erin! 

The first thank you is for Erin, who was my partner in crime throughout this entire semester.

She is an incredibly hardworking, kind and easy-to-communicate-with person, aka the best person that could’ve been my co-editor. Thank you so much for enduring my all-caps “ERIN’s” to grab your attention at 1 a.m. 

Running the Circle has been an absolute blast, and this has been due to the wonderful staff I’ve been lucky to have for the past semester. Ava Battinelli ‘26, our co-managing editor and next editor-in-chief, was our secret weapon this semester. Anytime Erin and I had an insanely busy schedule, Ava would willingly step up to the plate. The Circle is insanely lucky to have her next year. Second piece of advice: when you need help, ask for it!

Kyle Esoian ‘25, our other managing editor, was another crucial element of keeping everything together. Kyle was always consistently reliable and would quickly do any ridiculous task I asked him to do. Ben Leeds ‘26, you’re absolutely gonna crush it as editor-in-chief of Center Field and even more so as co-managing editor next year. 

Amanda Nessel ‘25, our chief of graphic design, and Lizzie Baumgardner ‘25, our photo editor, truly pull the entire final design of the paper together. Without their hard work, the paper itself wouldn’t exist. Lea Papakosmas ‘26, thank you for getting the word out on our hard work and pushing forward our technological ambitions that I cannot understand. Professor Lerner and Basinger, thank you both for your help throughout the entire semester and for being the best professors I’ve never had a class with. 

Thank you to the rest of the section editors, assistants, multimedia and design team members for consistently working so hard. You literally all do this and don’t get paid – except for the two times I brought ShopRite chocolate chip cookies for meetings. 

The last Circle people to thank were the people who came before me. Emma Denes ‘25 deserves all the credit in the world for improving this club to its maximum extent. Due to Emma, there is a form, template and explanation for basically any question that we could have. While she was only EIC for one semester, her effects on the Circle will resonate for an extremely long time.

Further people I have to thank that came before me are Sam Murphy ‘24, Lauryn Starke ‘23, Greta Stuckey ‘23, Madison Lisowski ‘23, Mackenzie Boric ‘24 and Erin-Leigh Hoffman ‘24 who knighted me with a Marist Circle copy into my managing editor ascendancy (it is now a tradition with a cooler Marist Circle newspaper-sword). Anyone joining the Circle staff next semester, both new and returning (Cora Flynn ‘26, Emma Gaecklein ‘26 and Hannah Tone ‘26), you’re all gonna kill it!

Lastly, I have to thank my wonderful professors throughout my college experience. A few incredible professors I’ve gotten to know are Kristin Bayer, Sergio Pinto Handler, Ramesh Laungani, Jessica Boscarino, Steven Garabedian, Sally Dwyer-McNulty and Zion Klos and Nicholas Marshall, my two advisors, whom I’ve exhausted every course to take with them. Thank you all for such an incredible academic experience. 

That’s it; that’s all my thank yous. Was it sappy enough? Well, now here’s a quote. “I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.” Yes, a quote from everyone’s favorite and charmingly handsome 38th president, Gerald Ford. I am Gerald. I mean, I guess Erin and I are Geralds. 

We were a one-term, unelected leader who then was unelected and then faded back into society, into our Geraldness. My third piece of advice is that sometimes it is okay to be Gerald. I don’t mean in any sense of Gerald’s politics. Sometimes in life, you're gonna have to step up and do something unexpected. Whether that’s because your boss committed 20 billion crimes and resigned, or if Emma Denes graduates early because she’s an academic weapon, you sometimes have to step up and give it your shot. 

I’m incredibly happy with the final result of this semester of The Circle. After literal months of me ranting and raving about “The Rhombus,” it happened in its full glory. More importantly, I believe the Circle is now a more well-oiled, engaging and, most importantly, fun institution here at Marist. Ultimately, my experience can be summed up in this statement: I was a better member of the Marist Circle than Bill O’Reilly.  

Lastly, yes, truly lastly, thank you to anyone who reads the Circle. In our increasingly limited attention spans, thank you for supporting student journalism and engaging with what we have to say. If you read my articles ranting about rock music or politics, or even did one of my crosswords, I really appreciate it. More importantly, if you're reading up until this point, you deserve a medal. 

Keep on rockin’ in the free world. 

Your EIC, 

Andrew