By: Hannah Wiley, Assistant Features Editor
If you have ever been in the office on a Thursday night, you know how chaotic it can be. With the office filled to the brim and several people talking, yelling, and laughing all at once, it's nearly impossible to get anything done. Yet, there’s one person who is responsible for the majority of the laughter and chaos you hear when you walk down the hall towards the office, that’s Colton Pankiewicz.
He’s the person who has made the sports section what it is in the past year, and someone who knows what's happening in sports before it actually happens. Colton is a senior journalism and strategic communications double major from Wheatfield, NY. He's been contributing to The Griffin since his sophomore year and has been on staff as the Assistant Sports Editor before becoming the Sports Editor last spring.
His favorite article he’s ever written is his 100 Days piece, which was in last week's edition. 100 Days articles are written by seniors as they are about to graduate, reflecting on their time at Canisius. “I’ve probably never been so emotionally invested in an article as that one,” Colton said. As someone who was one of the many brought to tears from his 100 Days, in my personal opinion taking the time to read it this piece is well worth it. His favorite memory of being on The Griffin was this past March on our trip to San Diego, specifically after the last day of the conference on the trolley to downtown San Diego. “Something about it just felt like I was proud to be with the people I was with,” he said.
His favorite thing about The Griffin is just being in the office on Thursday nights! “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I don’t know what I’m doing. Thursday nights I have loved for the past two years because I’ve had a place to go.” A piece of advice Colton would give to undergraduate students is something he heard in his first couple years at Canisius, and that would be to stand out: “I was so scared that I wouldn’t fit into the culture here, but the culture at Canisius revolves around being unique and different.”
Colton spoke very highly of a lot of people on the staff. Colton said our Editor-in-Chief, Ava C. Green is one of the only people in the world he’ll open up to, our Managing editor, Jon Dusza, is someone who will make you laugh incredibly hard. Features Editor, Maddy Lockwood, is a great friend, whom he claims gave him one of the nicest and most meaningful compliments to him this past March in La Jolla. Colton found a family within The Griffin that is unlike any other.
Just like it's hard for a parent to watch their kids go to college, it's going to be really hard to watch Colton graduate and move on from Canisius. The office won’t be the same without Colton next year, and our family will always feel like a piece of it is missing without him. The Griffin is going to have a really tough time losing him when he graduates next month, but I think I speak for the entire staff when I say Colton is going to do amazing things and we can’t wait to see them happen.