My school newspaper, the Union Street Journal, has been my greatest passion and my greatest challenge in high school. Being the paper’s editor has taught me as much about leadership and life as it has about editing and writing. The late nights in the newsroom with Dave Mathews blaring from the same obsessed editor’s computer have provided me with some of my greatest frustrations, and my best memories. And that is precisely why I am sad to say good-bye.

At the Union Street Journal, we have a tradition of passing the editorial torch about this time of the year. This is done for two reasons. First, past experiences have proven to us that second semester seniors are about as useful as Dr. House’s bum leg (sorry for the House reference — I’m kind of a fan). And second, the first semester transition is made in enough time for the old editorial board to supervise the new board for two production cycles.

This past Monday, editor applications were distributed to interested students at our weekly meeting. Those applications are due this upcoming Monday at the next meeting. Final decisions will be made by the current editorial board and sponsors right after that meeting.

It’s hard to believe that not that long ago it was me walking up to room IC 742 early on a Tuesday morning to see whether I was chosen to lead the paper. I was so anxious that I got to school an hour before it opened, hoping they had posted the results on the door the night before. They had.

Being the editor of the newspaper was a roller-coaster ride of sorts. In between the ups and downs, the twists and turns, I did pick up a few things while on the ride. Learning how to manage different types of people in the newsroom was difficult, but doing so taught me invaluable lessons about working with people. Being the last line of defense forced me to develop solutions to advertising, content, and design problems when they came up. The solution-oriented mindset I developed as a result has helped me in many situations outside of the newspaper. And learning how to lead was a challenge. But in doing so, I discovered the power of mutual respect and creativity, the need to lead by example, and the need for firm yet flexible leadership.

Selecting new editors is a bittersweet process for me. On the one hand, it will be quite a welcome relief to move the burdens of the paper off my shoulders. But on the other hand, once you reach the end, you start to think about how you got there, and getting to where I am now with the paper has been quite a fun journey and one I will miss.

This process will surely repeat itself throughout senior year as the organizations, teams, and projects that have meant so much to me will be transferred to a new group of students. But the first in any series is always the most profound, and that is why this passing of the editorial torch forced me to take a second, to process and reflect. My thoughts have led me to this conclusion — time passes faster than we would like, faster than we may be comfortable with, but there is no changing that. So let the passing of time be a reminder to make the most of it, a reminder to reach out for the torches being passed down to you.