Mission 100 Days: Contagious Love

By Mikayla Boyd, Editor in Chief

Throughout my entire scholastic career, my biggest challenge has been a blank page, but filling those pages have also been my biggest achievements. I’ve dedicated so much time and energy into filling each blank page I’ve ever come across – whether that’s The Griffin’s ten pages weekly, my 39-page honors thesis, every class paper I’ve written, my law school personal statement – the list could go on. Yet this is the page I’ve been dreading to fill, knowing it’s my last Griffin page, so here we go: this is how The Griffin’s contagious love changed my life.

While I’m a member of a lot of clubs and organizations, and an executive board member of a couple of those, if you know me, you know The Griffin is my number one passion here at Canisius. While I absolutely love my other activities, like researching and hosting a conference as president of Model United Nations, inducting members into DiGamma as a student member and breaking down philosophy concepts in small group discussions as a proctor for PHI 101 or in the tutoring center for PHI 225, nothing satiates my soul like seeing a new edition of The Griffin and knowing I was an integral part of that. If I had to pick only one thing from my college career over any others, it would be The Griffin ten times over. 

"Everything that I’ve done here has made me a more “me” version of myself, but especially being editor-in-chief. Every day I feel more like the person I’ve always meant to be."

To understand how deep my love for The Griffin runs, we have to go way back to my high school days (which seem so incredibly far away), where I was an avid contributor to my school’s yearbook: always checking out a camera, taking lots of photos at every sports event I could go to and constantly learning more. When I became a junior, I was chosen to be editor-in-chief of the yearbook, and I continued as that in my senior year. It was exhilarating, and the rush I got seeing the book each year with my name and my note in the colophon is too much to put into words. My four years of high school centered around making the yearbook better, getting the best shots and enjoying making every spread with the team. When I got to Canisius, I was looking for something to fill a yearbook-sized hole in my heart. What I found was so, so much more. 

I actually interviewed for The Griffin with then-Managing Editor Patrick Healy in a corner of the Moynihan Train Hall at New York Penn Station, of all places. I went into it not really knowing what The Griffin was or where the office even was. Thankfully, Pat was one of the first to share that contagious love for The Griffin with me, and I ran with it. One of the last print nights of the 2022-2023 year, I visited the office, did a page of layout while learning on the fly and I was hooked. I became a layout editor and handled opinion and creative corner in the creative corner’s first year as a section, when it and opinion were each one page. Safe to say, both sections and I have come a long way together. 

In March 2024, The Griffin took me to new heights (literally, I had never been on a plane before) with our trip to La Jolla, California. On our last night there, many of us huddled together in an outdoor mall next to our hotel, having the most soul-touching talk about life possible. I was so moved by this night that I wrote about it for an audio essay class: “Six of us remained until about one in the morning. Hours later, we were listening to our seniors talk about how fast their four years flew by and how much they’ve changed. We listened intently to their stories and tears peppered our faces. Our human experience felt especially beautiful in that moment.” It was one of the best moments of my life, when I realized how I was a part of something so special. It’s incredibly hard to believe that I am now on the other side of that conversation, turned from a sophomore with so much of college left to a senior leaving it all behind, in what feels like the blink of an eye. People say time is a thief, but time has also been the most precious gift, especially my time with The Griffin. Since 2024, I’ve been to California twice more and associate it with some of the happiest memories I have – seeing the Pacific Ocean, going dolphin and whale watching, getting serenaded with “Moon River” at the fanciest (and only) Italian opera restaurant I’ve ever been to, making it to a San Jose Sharks home game and bonding with the staff each year. Sophomore year with The Griffin showed me how many opportunities are out there. My world became so much bigger and brighter. 

When junior year came around, I challenged myself to take on another role as assistant opinion editor, which I absolutely loved. Whether it was doing layout or writing editorials, I always felt entirely at home and extremely enthusiastic about The Griffin. Once again, our trip to California, this time to Long Beach, was a pivotal moment. I have come to believe the staff trips each year to our Associated Collegiate Press conferences elicit the very best of our staff; stripped of the pressures of writing news and laying it out in the office on Thursday nights, the staff is free to invest in and grow our shared love of journalism, advocacy and community. It was that trip that solidified how right it felt and how called I was to lead the organization I had become so incredibly invested in. That contagious love got the best of me, and I made the best decision of my life by applying for editor-in-chief at the end of my junior year.

While for two of my three years on The Griffin I was not at the helm, this year my heart grew for this organization exponentially, which surprised me more than anything because I already had so much love and appreciation for this group, our mission and our execution. Each role I’ve had here has taught me so much. Being a layout editor taught me patience, perseverance, perfecting a craft and learning from mistakes. Being an assistant opinion editor taught me how to write better, how to be a better advocate and that going out of your comfort zone pays off. The lessons I’ve learned from being editor-in-chief are limitless: how to lead a team of your peers, humility, constant improvement, accepting criticism and how to do many, many things at once – just to name a few. 

The people who surround me also helped me achieve everything I have. My nana and my mom are the two most important people in my life, and I would be nothing without them. I could fill an entire edition alone with how much they mean to me, how they are the center of my life and how I wouldn’t have it any other way. They are my biggest supporters, my shoulders to lean on and the women whose prayers protect me daily. Their unwavering love and support have made me everything I am today, and I mean that entirely. I love you both to the moon and back.

Secondly, Canisius being ‘where leaders are made’ is true because our faculty and staff do the making, so I thank every professor or staff member who has supported me, for making me the leader I am leaving this campus as. The Canisius culture is crafted by a multitude of kind and caring people like Fr. Betti, Caroline King, Jason Francey and Matt Kochan. Fr. Betti and Caroline have helped me to, true to the Ignatian spirit, find God in all things and rewrite my relationship with my spirituality. Jason has been core to my leadership development, whether through the work he does for clubs or through organizing the leadership retreats that were some of my most formative experiences. Matt, who was my FYE instructor my very first semester here and has been such an avid cheerleader through four years, has watched me grow and shined positive light and laughter across the library and beyond. Professors like Mr. Robert Klump, Mr. Thomas Smith, Dr. Michael Forest, Dr. Philip Reed, Dr. Maura Snyder, Professor MB Fortunato and Dr. Shyam Sriram have quenched my intellectual curiosity, given me incredible life lessons and advice in so many forms and believed in me so much that it made me believe in myself, even when times were trying. It has been an honor to be surrounded by such dedicated faculty and staff. They are Canisius University’s greatest blessing, indispensable to our mission and are the stable foundation we must as a university prioritize.

"All it takes is courage, dedication and a whole lot of love– those qualities will get you farther than anything else in this world."

Lastly, my peers: from flipping water bottles during orientation in the Honors lounge, to traveling across and outside of the country with clubs, to commiserating with my friends during our fall semester of senior year in the midst of our theses, to speaking on a panel in front of high school seniors and pouring our hearts out about why Canisius was perfect for us, to the long days in the library broken up by friendly faces and conversations that might be a little longer than they should be…essentially from orientation to our upcoming commencement and every single second in between, thank you truly and deeply. This community has changed me deeply, in the best way possible. Whether we’ve had the smallest of conversations in passing or you’re one of my bestest friends here, I carry a piece of you in my heart, especially to my Griffin family – both past and present. 

"The Griffin, and Canisius more broadly, fostered the courage, dedication and love to fearlessly pursue my calling of being an advocate, whether that is as a student journalist or a future attorney."

On The Griffin specifically, I am a mosaic of all of the amazing Griffin staff I have had the privilege of serving under, working alongside and leading. Patrick Healy, Julia Barth, Ava Green and Jon Dusza set an amazing legacy as senior leadership that I looked up to. Ashley Kurz and Hannah Wiley have both been extraordinary managing editors to work alongside this year in our own roles in senior leadership, each in their own special ways. Serving my friends this year through leadership, particularly Katie Dusza, Kaitlyn Belile, Andrew Nowel and Lily McMenemy, has been incredibly rewarding to see how much they have grown as journalists, editors and just as amazing people. To me, the most important aspect of leadership is ensuring those you lead are compelled and ready to lead the next wave, whether that is students or the world as changemakers. Other incredible individuals along the way, like the entire C-Corner (Colton Pankiewicz, Connor Pohlman, Colin Richey and Chloe Breen), Lucas Watson, Madelynn Lockwood, Sophie Asher, Liz Shingler, Emma Radel and Courtney Lyons, have peppered my Griffin experience with anecdotes of love, laughter, wisdom and growth in their own special ways. To each of you, I express my deepest gratitude. 

In the application to lead this organization last year, I poured my heart out in the question: “Why are you interested in this position?” For your sake, I won’t include my entire answer, but I think an excerpt of it can best explain how much it has meant to me to be in the position I’ve had this year: 

“To me, it takes a special kind of person, with an array of leadership qualities, to lead this diverse and dedicated bunch. Yet, the strongest quality I've observed is love. The love I have for The Griffin staff, The Griffin's mission and The Griffin's work imparts a passion for the advancement of our organization. The past editors-in-chief have led with a contagious love and enthusiasm in a way that has inspired me to do the same.” 

I’ve learned The Griffin’s contagious love doesn’t just end with this organization. Its contagious love overflows and seeps into every aspect of my life and inspires me to embrace the ride, to face adversity head-on, to tackle hard things with a smile on my face and to be kind in the process. Knowing that I am part of, and leave, a legacy of love, journalistic integrity, community, enthusiasm and so much else puts the sweet in this bittersweet feeling. Everything that I’ve done here has made me a more “me” version of myself, but especially being editor-in-chief. Every day I feel more like the person I’ve always meant to be. I’ve realized that I don’t have to fit in a box – I don’t have to stick to the expected bounds of my major or take a traditional path to the leadership roles I’ve earned. All it takes is courage, dedication and a whole lot of love – those qualities will get you farther than anything else in this world. Those three things have gotten me to my dream of attending law school, which I will do this fall. As someone who came into college a lost and imposter syndrome-ridden freshman, The Griffin, and Canisius more broadly, fostered the courage, dedication and love to fearlessly pursue my calling of being an advocate, whether that is as a student journalist or a future attorney. 

As I parted from high school and left for college, my senior quote was “When I let go of who I am, I become what I might be” by Lao Tzu, and I can’t think of any better way to characterize my time and development here other than I became everything that I might have been. I became even more than what I could have dreamed, and I am so incredibly thankful for the community that helped me do that. It is my hope that you all find something that means as much to you as The Griffin meant to me: something that fills your soul, makes you a better person and makes you feel alive. Although I am leaving The Griffin, I take with me what really matters: the core values of fairness and advocacy, the lessons, the people and the most important thing, contagious love.