To our readers,

If you had told the two freshman girls who showed up to an interest meeting for their student newspaper — because they were unassumingly nosy and loved “Gilmore Girls” — that they would one day become Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor, they would have shyly insisted you were mistaken. Three years later, here we are.

Cooped above The Den in the Perkins Student Center, our office sits behind a steel blue door, tucked away at the top of a quiet, dusty stairwell that can be hard to find the first time around. 

Luckily for us, it was in that stairwell that we bumped into each other for the first time; two girls from complete opposite ends of the country (Lauren from California and Jess from New Jersey), brought together by the winding search to find The Review’s office. The rest is history.

That early September meeting remains especially memorable to us for many reasons. It marks the day our friendship began to blossom, but more importantly, the day that our leadership, work ethic and confidence within the newsroom began to develop and would be forever changed.

That growth was deeply shaped by the senior editors and reporters whose endless curiosity and thoughtful criticism mentored us through every stage of conducting interviews, formatting articles and storytelling. Their long nights spent editing and early mornings distributing print copies may have gone unseen by many, but they made our work feel larger than life. 

The passing years brought several dreaded graduations, and we assumed our own roles as section and copy editors. In these positions, we gained invaluable lessons — from adhering to nuanced AP style rules and facing website crashes, to the importance of asking tough questions and upholding journalistic standards.

The Review has offered us, as it has countless student journalists before us, a way to orient ourselves on campus. Countless interviews have brought us closer with our community, protests have shown us where students are being failed and The Review has offered us the critical lens to represent these stories.

In the year ahead, we hope to continue a legacy of coverage that informs, engages and connects with students and faculty across disciplines, as well as community members in and outside of the university. 

Simultaneously, we are tasked with remaining attuned to the demands of a waning journalistic landscape. Print journalism continues to dwindle. Artificial intelligence has impacted storytelling. Resources are tight, and fewer students are seeking careers in the field.

Nevertheless, our work at The Review is inspired by the commitment our staff has made for decades: to provide fair, accurate coverage and give voices to those seldom heard.

With that mission in mind, we are eager to lead The Review through another academic year equipped with an unwavering and intelligent staff — our 144th since the first issue in 1882. 

From sitting next to each other at that very first interest meeting to seeing our names side by side as leaders of the newsroom, we could not be more thrilled and honored to step into these roles. 

On behalf of The Review staff, we thank you, our readers, for supporting our work. We hope you continue to engage with us and, as always, we welcome you to hold us accountable in return.

Keep the faith,

Lauren Boyd and Jessica Bassion