William Burns loves thrillers, and he got one on Wednesday afternoon when Compass News staff past and present came to the news outlet’s newsroom to pay tribute to the man who is stepping down at the end of this semester after more than a decade as the publication’s adviser.
Once he got over the shock of seeing editors-in-chief, managing editors and staff throughout the years, Burns, who will continue on as an English professor, recalled some of the best things about the job. Two stood out.
“One was seeing all of you empower yourselves, “he said. “You all had the potential within each other, and you helped bring it out of each other.”
“The other thing was relationships,” he said. In fact, one couple in the group, Michael and Paula Guido, met at Compass and are now married.
All told, 16 students from 2016 to the present attended the event, dubbed the “Burns Bash.”
“The relationships, the bond, the community that we all created — that’s the most important thing. And I think that’s what I’m going to miss most,” to be honest.”
