Dear Reader,

This marks the end of a wild ride for the 2013-2014 Scroll board. As we prepare to hand off the reins to Henry Cobbs and his team of editors, I want to wish them the best of luck in both furthering goals we set out for ourselves a year ago and, even more importantly bringing their own perspective and attention to community issues.

It’s key for the mission of a paper to constantly be under the scrutiny of fresh eyes, and I am confident that next year’s board will bring a waterfall of new opinions and ideas to the table when they take over this spring.

Like all things in life, leaving the Scroll is bittersweet. The experience made us realize that every student deserves an equal voice and has the power to make that voice heard.

We were able to stimulate discussion, push against invisible boundaries and ask questions that people sometimes didn’t want to hear. Nothing that was printed was intended to offend, and every piece was included for a reason.

The Scroll only matters if people read it; we could print a million copies, but if they just sat on the floor the significance of it all would disappear. For not letting this happen I applaud you, our readers, for there was nothing more gratifying than to hear people debating article topics at sit-down meals or being sent their thoughts in hopes of their being shared.

If anything has been accomplished this year, I hope it is that students and faculty alike see the Scroll as an open forum with the purpose of strengthening the community, not pulling it apart. We’re all in this together, so to speak, and I hope that mentality was translated effectively over the last 12 months.

As a senior I can’t help but think about graduation; sooner or later it starts creeping up and we’re forced to consider what leaving Deerfield means to us.

In a smaller way, “graduating” from The Scroll mirrors what I imagine I will feel Memorial Day Weekend. So here’s to signing off for the last time: keep it classy and don’t waste a minute of your time in the valley because life won’t wait for you to catch up after the fact.