Onika Darling has been a staff member on The Cardinal Times since her junior year and took the Intro to Mass Communications class in her sophomore year. She joined the paper because she likes writing, but the community was her favorite part of the class. Darling found the production parties to be her best memories of being on the staff.

“I know it’s probably a really unpopular opinion, but it was really fun to sit with everybody, and everyone was just kind of laughing, even though we were all stressed trying to get things done,” said Darling.

After graduation, she will be attending the University of Iowa to study English and creative writing. She expresses what led her to her decision.

“I wanted something completely new. I thought it would be really good for me to be in a space where I was away from familiarity to really find myself,” said Darling. “I also really liked the writing program. It was one of the best in the country. I liked the opportunities they had there and how much they focused on the success of their students.”

Senior Jack Caldwell has known Darling since freshman year. She’s played a positive role in his life.

“[She is] an anchor. She’s probably the only person from my freshman year who I would consider myself to have stayed very close friends with. Especially in the past year, we’ve gotten to know each other a lot better through life events, and she’s just been there,” said Caldwell. 

Darling describes cross country as one of her biggest challenges faced in high school.

“For the first two years, I didn’t race ’cause I was too scared. Junior year, I finally decided to go for it, and I realized that this is something I really wanted to try, and I kind of regretted sophomore year not doing it,” said Darling. “I think overcoming that barrier of feeling like you are not good enough, so you don’t deserve it, but realizing that people are gonna support you.”