Max Dolinh, Editor-in-Chief–

When I first joined The Denisonian a couple of weeks into my freshman year, I didn’t envision myself being a journalist. About 70 issues later, I still don’t. For me, the paper has always been much more than just sharing stories, and for that, it’s been the highlight of my time on The Hill.

I can’t pinpoint when or why the paper became my “thing.” I didn’t go to the meetings for writing experience. I had virtually no expectations when I applied to be the assistant sports editor. And I wasn’t genuinely thinking about managing the staff until right around when it happened.

But as time went on, The Denisonian felt more and more like a place where I fit, and it started with the people. Besides my roommate, the first person I really got to know well on campus was one of my fellow freshman editors. What kept me showing up at the beginning was how welcoming the staff was. 

Building relationships with our editors might be the thing I cherish most at the end of the day, and none of them would be possible without the same group of us meeting up every week to put together an eight-page spread. 

Once I was entrusted with the responsibility of putting a section together, I realized how much emphasis I put on the little things. For whatever reason, I needed to make sure that my sports pages always had the perfect layout, even though it didn’t significantly change the final product.

Even now, correcting those details is a task unrewarded. The average person who picks up the paper won’t pay attention to the text-to-photos ratio or inconsequential typos. But to me, being editor-in-chief is aligning every column with the margins and double-checking every grammar rule I’m unsure about with AP style. Those things are a reflection of how much the paper has continued to matter to me. As I depart, I’ll be able to hang my hat on that I made it a point to send each issue to publication in the best shape it could be. 

If I had to single out a reason why I find myself here, it’s because I’ve felt valued. From when my job was to scan through sports statlines and write three-sentence recaps to eventually managing all five sections, I’ve been able to be in a place where I can really help, and there’s no better feeling than that. I chose to take on a larger role because the best way I could serve the paper transitioned from knowing sports to knowing our workflow. I’ve felt so incredibly appreciated and fulfilled helping people here, something I never would’ve imagined entering college.

Saying goodbye still hasn’t hit me yet, and probably won’t for a while. I’ve been to every meeting dating back to my first semester. It’s been as much of a routine for me as college itself. Yet, it feels like the exact right time to let go. I can confidently say that The Denisonian is in a better place than where I started. 

I’d like to thank anyone who’s read the paper over the past seven semesters. The incoming executive staff are not only exceptional journalists, but they have the ever important quality that carried me to editor-in-chief: They care. 

Max Dolinh ‘26 is an economics and data analytics double major from Oakton, Virginia.