Dear Reader,

These past few weeks, we have witnessed incidents of tragedy around the globe, so The Scroll staff and I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate space throughout this issue to honor those who have lost their lives, those who have lost their loved ones, and those who are facing oppression.

By creating the “Voices Against Violence” spread on pages 4 and 5, my goal was to shed light on the fact that there are members within this community who have been affected by the tragedies of the past few weeks or months. Though The Scroll was, of course, unable to cover all of the violence that has erupted as of late, I hope that this spread will urge you, reader, to seek to learn more about the issues that lay behind these tragedies and to have the difficult conversations about these issues with your peers and your teachers.

This past Sunday afternoon, I participated in a Greer Chat about gun control and gun violence, which Serena Ainslie and I decided to co-host after the shooting in San Bernardino, California last week. I came out of the conversation understanding much more about the pro-gun argument than I had expected to. Once you become willing to step into a conversation that is outside of your comfort zone, you become willing to learn something new; you come to understand, or at least try to understand, somebody else’s beliefs and the reasons that they hold those beliefs.

Therefore, reader, I hope you will recognize that through these times of struggle, there is opportunity. In the past month, I’ve learned so much about the root of the problems causing trending hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter, #StopSelectiveMourning, and #PrayForParis. Social media is a powerful platform bringing together many different views, so as to make comprehension of these difficult problems more complete. I encourage you to take the time to look at the photos and read those long posts  from media-users about what they believe and why. I know I’m glad that I did.

Reader, if you look around you, the people who make up this campus can act as another version of that platform. We’re lucky to attend a school filled with people so eager to learn. I urge you to partake in as many conversations as you can and to learn as much as you can. As we head into the coming months, keep your head up, be grateful, and be thoughtful.

Cheers,
Bella Hutchins
Editor-In-Chief