Dear Readers,

Last year when you picked up our first issue, you may have noticed that our names were lower on the seniority list. But here we are, at last, the new Editors-in-Chief. How did we end up here? 

Over the summer, we worried about our new roles, which kept us up late at night thinking about what was expected of us. Why would last year’s all-star editor team give us their trust? Would we live up to their high expectations? What if we fail so badly that new students would hate the class? Those were some of the questions left unanswered.

Our story is atypical. We joined the addicting, stressful fiasco that is Journalism at different times in our lives: remotely during the pandemic and immediately upon entering Laguna last year. Though we walked on different paths, we both were drawn to Journalism.

Over the last few years, we’ve fallen madly in love with this class, and now that we’ve wrapped up this issue, we can confidently say that it’s just as meaningful as before. 

We are so happy for our new staff, who joined this class with a clear vision for the magazine. At every step of the way, they impressed us with their maturity. When we stressed over deadlines, they took it on the chin.

We’re proud of our incredible returning staff and section editors for stepping up to the challenge. With only a year in Journalism under their belts, they helped new writers build stories from the ground up, design complex layouts, and create dozens of beautiful graphics.

We’re so thankful that we have such an incredible team of senior editors–Elli, Abby, Aden, and–Owen who have been our rock during the process, assisting new writers when we couldn’t, taking weight from us when we had too much on our plate, and being great mentors for the class.

Last but not least, we are so grateful for our Faculty Advisor, Ms. McHale. Without her, none of this would be possible. She’s encouraged us to forge our own path and vision for the magazine while ensuring we stayed on track.

We have found this experience in Journalism as some of the most fulfilling, memorable, and entertaining in all of high school. We can’t wait to see where the next three issues take us.