Every week, Syracuse University professor Aileen Gallagher helps Longreads highlight the best of college journalism. Here’s this week’s pick:

You may have already read this week’s #college #longreads pick because someone posted it on Facebook or Twitter. Indiana University senior Jessica Contrera paid homage to the end of the local Waffle House with hours of reporting and 15 drafts. You hear the reporting in the details: An empty gumball machine. A stopped clock. Broken locks. You see the writing in the verbs: “On the last morning, before the waffle irons went cold and the pictures came down, before the lock refused to lock, before the claw crashed through the roof, the old man paced.”

But you didn’t read the story because it’s a quaint look at a fading icon. Your friend didn’t send it to you because it’s better than what we expect from a student. You read it, and passed it on, because it’s just about perfect.