A year has passed since this team of editors took the reigns of GCAA student media and swore to do our absolute best to create a journalistic legacy that we could leave behind. Now, on our graduation day, we say goodbye–goodbye to our newspaper, goodbye to our yearbook, goodbye to our incredible team of writers and photographers, goodbye to our incessantly critiquing and unconditionally supportive advisor. Because of you, our senior year was the best it possibly could’ve been.

It’s funny how slowly time disappears until you’ve reached the end of it. This year we’ve been swept up in flurries of articles and mugshots, not taking a moment to think about what it would be like once we are no longer the editing team. Now that we’ve reached the end, we want to say thank you.

We all joined student media at a time in our lives when we desperately needed it. We have all worked with and learned from students older than us, we’ve helped to guide students younger than us, and we have gained what we believe to be a great and comprehensive understanding of our student body, unrivaled even by teachers. We have learned so much from all of you.

We have learned to be more open-minded, more patient, and to always keep a middle ground on everything. We have learned how unbiased and truthful journalism can make an impact, even in the smallest of communities. We have learned that as students and as writers, our voices have power and value, and we have learned how best to use that power. We have learned so much about ourselves through this experience, and we are incredibly grateful for that.

Our parting from GCAA student media is bittersweet, but we trust in the legacy of those before us, as well as our own, to help develop this program into something even more incredible than it is now. So, to all of the future editors, photographers, and journalists in student media: never stop doing what you love. Never stop striving for greatness, to be the best you can be. We didn’t, and as a result we have had some of the best experiences of our lives in this program. We are stronger, smarter, and better for our time here. And even though we’re all moving on to new things, GCAA student media will always have a place in our hearts.

However, the single most important reason that this experience has been so meaningful to us is because of one person. So, to our incredible advisor Travis Armknecht: you have taught us so much about who we are and who we want to be. You have been there for us in every possible way. You have guided us and helped us, taught us and made us laugh, and had the confidence in us that helped us to have confidence in ourselves. You are the best teacher any of us could’ve asked for, and we are so incredibly grateful and proud to call you our advisor, our teacher, and our friend. You have made this experience one of the best in our lives.

All four of us are moving on to the next stages of our life, but GCAA student media will be with us forever. Our staff, our advisor, and our school have all made up our journalism family, and we will be forever grateful.