Prep-year me would never have guessed that I would be writing a goodbye to The Record. Four years ago, I never thought I would even write an article for The Record, but I am and will forever be grateful for my Record experience. I am thankful for the confidence The Record has given me. I never thought of myself as a writer until I saw my name printed on the Sports page. But most importantly, I’m grateful for the people I have gotten the chance to work with. Mego, Reece, and Tina: you amaze me with how bright, creative, and inspiring you are, even during our midnight editing sessions. And Ms. Villano and Ms. Wynn. You walked and supported us through such a difficult and weird year. Thank you! While our board is coming to an end, I will always hold The Record close at heart, and I’m excited to see where the new board will take The Record.

peace ✌️
Connie Cao

For the last three years, I’ve used the sentence, “Sorry, I can’t come, I have Record” an uncountable number of times. I had a disappointed tone in my voice or added a sad emoji to the end of the sentence but deep down, I’ve loved doing The Record. Beyond learning how to “find the story within the story,” cut down an article, and use Adobe InDesign, I’m most grateful for all the people I got to meet. Connie, Reece, Tina: our friendship is definitely the best thing The Record gave me. Ms. Villano and Ms. Wynn: thank you for guiding us through every issue and helping us become better writers and editors. I will miss sending out the sign-up sheets, writing hooks, and four-hour Zoom calls every other Tuesday. Congratulations to the new board, and good luck!

Meghana

How do I say goodbye to The Record—something that has been a part of my identity the moment I stepped on campus? I don’t think I can—I know that the lessons I’ve learned, the friendships I’ve made, and the moments I’ve experienced will stay with me long after my name is gone from the masthead. As I moved from being a new writer to a staff writer, then a News Editor, and then Editor-in-Chief, my understanding of journalism grew more nuanced: I learned how to tell a story and explored the boundaries of freedom of speech.

I want to thank Mego, Connie, and Tina for making our year as Editors-in-Chief so memorable, and Ms. Villano and Ms. Wynn for guiding and supporting us through all of it. I want to thank everyone on the CXXII Editorial Board for their amazing work during such strange circumstances. Finally, I’d like to update “The Record, by The Numbers” by Jiahua Chen ’20 for the past year:

Number of issues: 20-ish; number of words, photos, and cartoons published in The Record: uncountable; number of images converted into CMYK: 0; number of articles published online: 228; number of online impressions: 312,000; number of website visits: 63,024; number of website sessions: 27,824; number of minutes spent on website: 46,837; number of newsletter subscribers: 300. Number of editors: 21; number of unique contributors to The Record: 60 and counting; number of late nights spent working on The Record: still too many; number of nights spent off campus: 356. Number of emails relating to The Record: 3,617; suspicious emails received: surprisingly numerous; number of all-schools sent for The Record: 20. Number of times on stage in Walker for The Record: 0; number of times I felt like I should have thanked staff and writers but didn’t: too many; number of papers published: 0 (if you don’t count the first half-issue); number of papers passed out in the dining hall: 0. Amount of appreciation this board deserves for doing such a bang-up job anyway: still ∞.

Reece Yang
P.S. subscribe to my YouTube channel

My decision to join The Record was not premeditated in the very least. Frankly, it all began with a glimpse of a quote by Charlie Knight ’20 in the 2018 April Fools’ issue slipped under my door. The quote went, “If you’re in The Record, you’re either a sadist or a masochist.” Passing by the English Wing one Thursday night, I then decided to check these “sadists” and “masochists” out and yielded to the editors’ impassioned recruitment. I stuck with it.

I can’t help but imagine how I would have spent my past four years had I not taken a glimpse of that quote. As much as I would like to romanticize my encounter with The Record as something that exemplifies “Es muss sein!” (It must be so), the fortuitous quality of this encounter screams “Es könnte auch anders sein” (It could just as well be otherwise), in Kundera’s terms. But isn’t an occurrence predicated upon chances more special and significant? All this fortuity took me to a new world, where I experienced first-hand the power of journalism and met people I’ll remember for life. The memory of tingling with excitement on the night before seeing my article in-print still feels like yesterday, but the new era has come. I am thrilled to see what the next editorial board will accomplish, and hope our presence has left a meaningful mark on The Record’s history.

Tina Deng