During my first year at Guilford, I was a bit of a shut-in. I had a few friends and my writing and work to keep me busy. That was good enough for me.

And then I took Journalism.

I know it may sound sappy or cliché, but this organization and this College’s community has become my family. You’ve taught me to be not only unafraid of new faces, but to embrace the new and the strange and the challenging. You’ve taught me to listen closely to the vibrations of the campus. And most importantly, you taught me that we, as a community, have a powerful voice.

As the incoming editor-in-chief of The Guilfordian, I have a mission: to provide a venue for that voice and listen to your ideas.

The Guilfordian can be the megaphone for our community’s voice. If you want to shout out your worries or raise up a part of our College’s ecosystem, we invite you to share your thoughts and stories. As a newspaper that calls this college home, we want to invite you join us in our responsibility to appreciate and criticize this institution.

In the spirit of communal collaboration, we will be reaching out to get pitches from you and streamlining the process of writing Letters to the Editor and guest writing.

We will also be working to mold this newspaper into what this community’s been asking for.

Our World and Nation section will be rededicated to reporting untold and underreported national and global stories. We will tell the local news stories from the greater Greensboro community. And social justice will become a constant presence in print.

Over the past three years, I’ve learned a lot from this College and all of those who help make it a great, ever-evolving place. With that in mind, I want to say thank you.

Talk to you all soon.

Sincerely,

Justyn Melrose