Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be apart of something so great for so long. I chuckle as I think back to my first days when I was very different than I am today.
Like my higher voice and shorter stature of my early Post days, I was a much different person than I am today.
This newspaper helped to shape and mold me into the person I am proud to have become.
Although I am an out-going person today who enjoys meeting new people and reveling in finding individuals to speak with for stories and projects, I was not always this way.
Before Cindy Simoneau, the former assistant managing editor of the Connecticut Post, gave me the opportunity to show this newspaper, and myself, what journalistic talents I possessed, I was a shy, quiet person who hardly spoke with individuals I knew well, let alone strangers. She, and metro news editor, John Schwing, took a chance with a young, short kid who possessed little experience but had a big dream.
Through my nearly-decade reign at the Post, I have been given the opportunity to shine both with my writing and my design skills. I discovered just how miraculous producing a daily newspaper is with so many people all working with the single, simple objective of educating and informing, you, the reader.
My diverse experiences here offered me the very rare opportunity to work on every desk — from news and business to sports, features and editorial. I was given the real privilege of learning every facet of newspaper production from interviewing and writing to copyediting and design. It has been a truly eye-opening adventure that gave me an early opportunity to experience what print journalism is really about.
Through my internship and freelance work here, I have had the opportunity to meet some really great people who I will miss greatly.
My experiences here helped me to learn how to write, edit and layout a story — invaluable skills that will undoubtedly be used throughout my career.
Although I have paginated my last page and filed my final column, I will not soon forget how much I lucked out when veteran editors gave a young kid the opportunity to soar.

So now I'm out. Because I'm not sure how long I will have this blog online, I encourage you to write me at jdeloma@gmail.com as soon as possible so we can stay in touch.