I walked into The Torch room my freshmen year mostly due to a big shove from my older brother. He always told me how much I would love working for the paper, and although I didn’t fully believe him, he had never steered me wrong before. Because of him, I walked into the class of almost all upper classmen. I was intimidated and afraid of looking stupid. I knew math was my favorite subject. I never really liked to write.

Looking back, it’s funny how things change. The paper this year will have an equal number of changes as well. First of all, the one and only Gary Lindsay has sadly stepped down as advisor and started his new chapter in retirement. Lindsay built this newspaper from the ground up, and as sad as I am to see him leave I am equally excited to work with our new advisor, Stacy Haynes-Moore. She, a former editor-in-chief of The Torch, too learned from the best and is as excited as Rachel and I to keep up the high reputation of this newspaper.

If you haven’t noticed yet, our paper looks completely different from past years. We have chosen to upgrade our paper type in order to give you a more aesthetically pleasing visual, giving you even more reason to just look at the pictures. We all truly hope you like the change and I’m not just saying that because it’s costing us all the money in our bank account.

I joined because of my brother, stayed because of Mr. Lindsay, and now continue because of my crazy obsession and love for The Torch and the wacky family that comes with it. I’m confident this will be a great year. Enjoy.