As this year comes to an end and we close a chapter on a year that was filled with coverage ranging from the demolition of Index Hall, the recent coverage of racial injustice plaguing our nation, shootings, snowstorms and the first U.S. case of COVID-19. I wanted to say thank you to each person who has supported the hard work and dedication by this year’s staff. 

One of the challenges we ran into this year was the closure of in-person classes after spring break. In doing so, we decided to halt our print publications for spring quarter and move to a strictly online format. Our team then had to adapt and learn how to run a newsroom and hold interviews remotely via Zoom and other digital channels. As a result, our staff was able to rally around a centralized focus of hard news coverage and the pandemics’ affects on our students and their community.

Because of this, our website and social media pages have seen exponential growth. In the past 9 months, our website has seen 129,882 page views and 87,727 new users. 

This diligent coverage by our staff has brought us closer to the community than ever before. Thank you to each and every one of our readers. Without you, we couldn’t have been named best two-year student news website, and two-year student news print publication in the northwest by the Pacific Northwest Association of Journalism Educators. This is the first time The Clipper has earned first-place honors for web or print, accumulating a total of 21-awards.

It has been my honor to continue a tradition that goes back 79-years of chronicling the news of EvCC and covering the first draft of history regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. I have seen our school’s students and staff look to The Clipper for the answers they are seeking, something that we cherish with each and every article.

Being Editor-in-Chief has been the best experience of my life. I have made connections with people who truly care about EvCC and the community it serves. It has not only taught me how to become a better writer, but to become a better person.  

As I look back at all we have accomplished and look forward to the future, I have no doubt that next year’s staff will be one of great success and continued determination. This year’s staff aimed to have student voices heard, to report accurate information and to reflect EvCC and the surrounding community transparently. I hope we were able to accomplish that. Thank you for all the support this year and your continued support in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Daniel Albert, Editor-in-Chief