Welcome back to school! Whether today is your first day of college or your twenty fifth year working here, thank you for picking up the newspaper and at least glancing at the following pages.

In the future, this space will be used to discuss various topics and ideas, like the issue box included at the beginning.

But today, I wanted to take a little time and introduce myself and tell you a bit about our new design for the year.

I have the privilege and responsibility of serving as the 105th editor of The Optimist, the student-run newspaper on campus. Privilege and responsibility – I use those words together for a reason.

First, it is a privilege to get to put this whole thing together each week, to work with a passionate and dedicated team to bring you the news, and to have my own office for crying out loud. I love getting to tell the stories of what’s happening around ACU.

Now entering into my final year on campus, I take the responsibility that comes with this job very seriously too.

The Optimist has been around since 1912. So you can imagine the pressure I feel not to burn the whole thing to the ground now that it’s been handed over to me.

It’s not an easy job, or one take lightly.

This thing has been around for a while. And I don’t know if you noticed, but the logo on the front page looks pretty old school.

I’m a sucker for all things vintage and eclectice, so when I found out it was used on the paper from the 1920s to the 1940s, you better believe I said we are going back to the old style of the paper.

The Optimist also continues to drive our digital presence.We want you to know what’s happening and we hope to create meaningful and engaging content in the weeks to come.

In my time as editor, I hope this publication is something that brings people relevant information and maybe a couple laughs every now and then. I hope it will be a vibrant forum for conversation about issues in the world and in our community. I hope that each week, readers pick up a copy knowing that it was made with them in mind.

Three years ago, I set foot on this campus thinking I knew pretty much everything I needed to know about ACU. I grew up coming to Homecoming Weekend and in junior high, I went through this whole phase where I’d watch Sing Song videos on YouTube to learn the words (literally not joking). My freshman year, I read a column in the newspaper that I liked, let the author know, and was soon writing stories on my own.

I had no idea what I was doing. Three years later, most days I still don’t know, but I am learning still.

As much as I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, I do know that it’ll be an adventure.

Thank you for reading.