For the last four years, I’ve spent my Wednesday nights in the basement of Campion in The Spectator office, working diligently with editors and designers to put out a newspaper the next day. Nights of sleep deprivation, editorial debates and hard lessons in style, specifically learning how to accept that Oxford commas must be omitted, characterized these late-night editorial meetings, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

I can’t express enough how deep my gratitude runs for this student newspaper and its dedicated members. Student journalism has been my education, and working alongside such a dedicated team of editors, designers and photographers has shown me the importance of storytelling and the people who commit themselves to it.

I’m going to miss it deeply, especially the feeling of holding a brand new copy of the paper each week. Each issue is a physical record of the creativity, passion and late nights that everyone pours into The Spectator, and there’s nothing quite like it.

My time here has taught me to be genuinely curious. When we sit down with someone whose experience differs from our own, we’re given the opportunity to be surprised or challenged. The discomfort we feel before engaging with a new idea isn’t a reason to pull back; it’s complexity waiting to be worked through. I’ve learned that a single conversation, if you’re willing to really listen, can change the way you see something entirely.

I’ve come to invite tension into my conversations and ideas, because it means I’m grappling with something real. We all carry different perspectives that reveal different truths about the same issue, and I believe our differences deserve more space in our reporting, in our discussions and in the ways we think about ourselves and each other. Curiosity isn’t passive. It requires that we keep creating opportunities to be surprised, and that is the strength of good storytelling.

To everyone who has shared that basement with me, thank you. I came in not knowing what I was doing, and I’m leaving knowing exactly what I love. And with that, I’m turning in my final draft. Thank you for the ride!

Sincerely, 

Leila Bunker, Editor-in-Chief