From the moment I accepted my job as a sports reporter at The Bradford Era last July, I knew Bradford was a special place.

I was blown away by the amount of people who sent me messages welcoming me in the area and to let them know if I ever needed anything. That support continued when my girlfriend and I moved to the Twin Tiers later on.

From long nights on the road and in the office, to high school sports in the Keystone State being in jeopardy due to Covid-19, to covering numerous games and writing feature stories, the past 10 months have certainly seen their ups and downs, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

My time in Bradford has helped shape me as a person and provided me plenty of opportunity to grow and innovate my work as a journalist. I’m very thankful that I was able to have my first full-time job out of college here — a place that will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Friday was my last day working at The Bradford Era, as I’ve decided to pursue a new chapter in my life. This decision was a very, very difficult one to make, considering how welcoming this community has been since I first accepted the job and the enjoyment I’ve experienced interacting with coaches, athletes and others in the community over the past 10 months.

I wish my time here could’ve been longer, but I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to tell the stories of teams and individuals in the community and living out my dream of being a sports journalist.

THERE ARE numerous people I’d like to thank. The biggest thank you goes out to the coaches and athletes in the area. Not only was our sports department faced with handling a different sports landscape due to the pandemic, but these coaches and players were resilient and made the most of a difficult time.

Any bad day I had was immediately made better by the coaches and athletes in the area, whether it was coaches thanking us for our game coverage, complimenting our feature articles or even pointing out a mistake we made. You were all the best part of my job and helped us improve each day. Thank you for allowing me to tell your stories and taking time out of your days to speak with us — our sports department appreciates it more than you know.

Thank you to J.P. Butler for offering me this opportunity back in July. J.P.’s guidance and assistance over the past few months helped our sports department greatly, and I’m very thankful for his advice as well as the laughs from our daily conversations.

I owe a lot to our former sports editor Joel Whetzel. Joel and I have known each since my freshman year of college. I can’t thank him enough for making my experience living in the Twin Tiers and working at The Era a positive one and for all the great times we had in the office and on the road covering games. Another thank you as well to Anthony Sambrotto for his willingness to offer advice when needed.

Also thanks to my colleagues Bob Parana at the Ridgway Record, Rich Rhoades at the (DuBois) Courier Express, the folks at D9and10Sports.com as well as my co-workers here at The Era in Corey Dieteman, Ruth Bogdan, Marcie Schellhammer and JoEllen Wankel.

Last but not least, a big thanks to our paginator Ashley Steis and Jeff Uveino, who’ll now be leading the sports department. The sports section wouldn’t be what it is without Ashley, who always puts in her best effort day in and day out without blinking an eye. The sports section will be in great hands with Jeff, who has a very bright future in this industry. I have no doubt he’ll succeed here and produce high quality content and sections every week. I’m very appreciative of the fact that I was able to work with him the past few months and show him the ropes.

FINALLY, thank you to everyone who has followed our sports department’s work. Covering local sporting events, writing feature stories about local athletes/coaches and producing sports sections featuring local content is something I always took pride in. I couldn’t be prouder of the job we’ve done in my time here.

I have felt right at home in the Twin Tiers and that was made easier by the mountains in the area being similar to the ones in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Continue to support local journalism and thank you for being a part of this Northeast Ohio native’s journey.

(Patrick Kotnik can be reached at patrick.kotnik@gmail.com)