It feels like just yesterday that I was packing as many of my belongings as I could fit from my Boston apartment into the backseat of my Honda Accord, preparing for the 23-hour drive to Marshall. It was the start of a new chapter for me, leaving behind everything I’d ever known to start a career in sports writing with the Marshall Independent. Nearly four years later, it’s time for me to turn the page again as I approach my last day as an employee of the Independent on Wednesday.

I’ll admit, getting acclimated to Marshall wasn’t easy at first. I grew up in a suburb about an hour outside of Boston, a town of around 20,000 people that I had always considered to be a small town. The concept of needing to drive 90 minutes to get to the closest Popeyes was unfathomable to me. Still, the welcoming nature of the people of southwest Minnesota made it all worthwhile.

Over time, the bonds I formed with the people of this community really made it a place that I will miss. When I came here, I was very much naturally an introvert. I still am, to an extent, as someone who’s spent many a Saturday night just playing Wordle and Sudoku. But with interviews being an intrinsic part of my job, I really got to know the people of this community and they helped me open up.

Whether it was the town ball players, the coaches, the athletes I was covering or their families, I do feel like this community embraced me in a way that I didn’t expect at first, and for that, I am grateful.

While I was hired as a sports writer, and six months later became the editor, working here really helped me develop a secondary passion for photography. In one of my first assignments after coming here, covering a Milroy Irish postseason game against Luverne, I took some pride in a photo I got of first baseman Brady Lanoue leaping up to make a catch.

That was sort of my first time dipping my toe into photography, but over time, I realized that capturing the photos of the emotions was more important than capturing the play itself sometimes. The words, the quotes, the stories, those are the lifeblood of the newspaper. Yet, none of them by themselves can convey the energy of a moment quite like a photo of the faces of a high school football team moments after they get to the state tournament for the first time.

Part of what made this job such an exciting one for me is the extraordinary amount of athletic talent in the area. I’ve seen dynasties from Marshall volleyball and Minneota football, a first-time state championship from Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball, and a number of drought-snapping section titles such as MCC football and baseball this year.

At the collegiate level, I also had the pleasure of watching Southwest Minnesota State University thrive during basketball season, both the mens and womens teams reaching the national tournament during my time here, and seeing Bri Stoltzman win National Player of the Year honors.

All this to say, the success in this area makes it much easier for me to write stories that people want to read. I feel lucky to have covered the schools that I cover, and to have taken our sports section to the level where it received a Minnesota Newspaper Association award for general sports reporting every year that I’ve been the sports editor. I hope whoever takes over next can keep the streak going and continue to give this area the coverage it deserves.

Aside from all I learned about being a journalist during my time here, one of the things I appreciate the most about these last few years here is how much they taught me about myself. As someone with no local connections when I came here, I had a lot of free time on my hands. I’ll watch just about any basketball game that I can find, but you can only spend so many off days watching an NBA League Pass game between the Wizards and Hornets. So to kill time, I just got to driving.

First, it was just a little adventure into South Dakota to see the Badlands. Then it was up to North Dakota on another weekend to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Soon enough, I was leaving work on a Friday night just to make a 13-hour drive to Wyoming. One of my favorite experiences I’ve ever had is sitting on the hood of my car in the cold October air, watching the sunrise over the Tetons as 070 Shake’s vocals on the outro of Ghost Town echo through my headphones. I don’t think I’d have ever known that part of myself if I hadn’t taken this job.

There are too many people I want to thank for all the ways they’ve helped me over my time here, so I can’t list every name, but I would like to name-drop a few of the most important people who have had major roles in shaping our ability to cover local sports over the last few years. Sam Davis has done an incredible job as a member of the sports section, especially while balancing it with the education beat. Oscar Hansen really helped us bolster our coverage of our area schools outside of Marshall, as did photographers Kim Nelson and Madison Baker.

I’d also like to give a special thanks to Shauna Bjorklund and The Gambler for taking me on as a part-time employee for a few years.

I’ll still be around town for another few days, so if you see me around, by all means, please come and say hello. We appreciate all the people who subscribe to the Independent and help keep the tradition of print journalism in Marshall alive. I hope that whoever fills my shoes once I’m gone has just as much passion and enthusiasm for the work and the people as I do.

If you want to keep up with me after I head out, follow me on Twitter @JakeMcNeill_. I try to keep up with my direct messages, so happy to hear from any of you.