The Beacon wishes adviser Lindsey Wotanis best of luck

Lindsey Wotanis is not a typical fi rst-year instructor. While many would take their first year of teaching to test the waters at their new university, Lindsey decided to dive in at Wilkes. She taught courses, advised The Beacon, organized the prestigious Tom Bigler Journalism Conference for local high school students and became a mentor to many of her students.

Now, Wilkes and The Beacon must say goodbye to Lindsey as she prepares to join the faculty of Marywood University in its growing journalism program.

Marywood is completely justified for snatching Lindsey up; people like her are not found everyday. The Beacon considers her a rare diamond in the rough. She is kind, caring and accessible; however, she knows when students are not working to their potential and never settled for work that was merely “good enough.”

One of the qualities that endeared students to Lindsey is her history with Wilkes University. During her time as an undergraduate student here, Lindsey was heavily involved in student organizations, such as The Beacon, Zebra Communications and Commuter Council. From the start, her students knew that not only could she relate to them, but her advice would be accurate as well as relevant.

Admittedly, Lindsey’s first year was not a cakewalk. Her first year brought challenges that would make even tenured professors cower; however, Lindsey met those challenges head-on. Not only did she tackle them, she handled them with class.

Even with The Beacon and an in-progress dissertation, Lindsey was not hesitant to volunteer her time to help other clubs and organizations when they were in need. As an example, she has given up multiple weekends to be a judge for the speech and debate team.

Albert Einstein once said that it was the art of the teacher to “awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” Lindsey, while young, perfected this art form, and luckily her students were able to benefit from her knowledge during her short time as a Wilkes professor and mentor. Wilkes University will be hard-pressed to find a replacement for such an amazing, dynamic teacher and adviser.

Though we know that this move is what is best for her, we can’t help but be a bit selfish and want to keep her here. The Beacon staff wants her to know that we will very much miss her and that we wish her only the best in all of her future endeavors.