Senior Farewells: Simon Brown

Well, here I am. The end of the road.    

I came to Troy as a junior in the fall of 2024, transferring from the University of North Alabama. Stepping onto campus, I only knew two people, and neither were students in the Hall School of Journalism and Communication. I knew starting a new school where I hardly knew anyone was going to be a challenge.   

The main reason I decided to transfer to Troy was to pursue TrojanVision. I originally had no intention of writing for the Tropolitan. However, during my IMPACT visit over the summer, I met with my adviser, Dr. Taylor, who changed my mind. She mentioned to me that many TrojanVision reporters also wrote for the Trop. Although I was skeptical, I decided that I would give the Trop a chance.    

At the start of Trop bootcamp, I remember walking into Patterson Hall and meeting many of the people that would grow to become my peers over the next two years. During the bootcamp, it felt like I was drinking from a firehose. So much information was dumped on my head, but I wasn’t discouraged. I had work to do.

Coming to Troy, I knew that half of my collegiate career was already over. Due to this, I knew that I had no time to waste. In the back of my mind, there was always a clock counting down. In the beginning, I said “yes” to anything and everything. There was no story I wasn’t willing to cover. As I covered more stories, I found that I enjoyed tackling hard news. Some of my favorite stories that I covered include shootings, political meetings, protests, anything police-related and localization of national stories.   

I’ve worn a lot of hats during my time at Troy: Student News Director for TrojanVision, Lead News Writer for the Trop, Staff Writer for the Palladium and Lambda Pi Eta President. There was never a day working in student media where I felt like I hadn’t done enough. Every day I gave everything I had and then some.   

Among the honors I’ve received are two first-place awards from the Southeast Journalism Conference, recognition as TrojanVision’s Best News Reporter for the 2024–2025 academic year, the Hall School of Journalism and Communication’s Outstanding Senior in Journalism award. I have also been inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and Lambda Pi Eta.

I’ve thrived at Troy and even made some mistakes along the way. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to spend all four of my undergraduate years here.  

While my time at Troy is coming to an end, my academic journey is not complete. I will be pursuing my master’s degree at Auburn University in the fall as a graduate teaching assistant.    

I would also like to give a special thanks to Dr. Cooper, the Tropolitan’s adviser. You have been an excellent professor, and I have learned many valuable things from you. Thank you for always being a supporter and a listening ear.