April Editor's Note

My nine years at Westridge are finally coming to an end. That’s half of my entire life spent at this school. It’s strange being the person I am today and walking through the same halls I did when I was nine years old, seeing my fourth grade teachers on a regular basis, and being a senior, who I thought, when I was in fourth grade, were like invincible gods (I can tell you we’re definitely not). Nine years of late-night studying, sports injuries, hell-raising with friends, and Commons food-gorging are coming to an end, and I’m incredibly grateful for the community that Westridge has provided me. Not to say these last nine years haven’t been without their challenges, but because of the good and the bad, I feel both prepared and extremely ready to start my life in the world outside Westridge. And one of the things I am most grateful for is the opportunity to work as Editor-in-Chief of Spyglass.

 

Spyglass has been both a creative outlet and a disciplined extracurricular that has helped  me grow as a writer and a leader. The role continues to evolve as the staff members devise creative way to effectively share stories. This year a mix of seasoned and rookie staffers rebooted the newspaper.  Unofficially calling it Spyglass 2.0, we switched to being a solely online platform. It was a big step, but with the teamwork we had, we pulled off a compelling newspaper that I am incredibly proud of. It was the first year where we had so many different voices contributing to the paper and we were able to show videos and use other multimedia aspects to enhance our stories, and I believe we achieved our goal of bringing our community together.

 

I am incredibly excited to see what Caroline P., our current Managing Editor and soon-to-be Editor-in-Chief, as well as the new growing staff, will do with paper in the future, but I am sad that I will not be on campus to see the impact Spyglass has on our community. This paper is not in more capable hands, and I hope that everyone on our campus - students, faculty, and staff - partake in the amazing opportunity that we have at this school to share stories, encourage empathy, and bring our Westridge community together.