When I came to Guilford College in 2011, Professor Bill McCarver taught my first class. That class taught me as much about life as it taught me about college writing.

I eagerly went to his retirement ceremony at Hege Library, hoping that my support might make up for the fact he was being pushed into retirement.

Professional Tutor at the Learning Commons Doug Smith opened the ceremony.

“Guilford teaches to point out the wrongdoings in society,” said Smith. “Perhaps that is why we criticize so much rather than following the Quaker principle of praising people.”

Smith’s words hung over the audience with awkward clarity. Even at The Guilfordian, we criticize more than praise the community. Such is the nature of news.

Over the last week, I sought out several staff members to thank them for their work. My first interview was with a member of the food staff.

This person wished to remain anonymous because their employer, who Guilford College contracts through, has a policy that workers cannot speak to our paper.

“I am very happy to work here,” the employee said. “It’s a perk of the job to see you come in as young adults and leave as grown-ups.”

I asked how our saying thanks would be received among the staff.

“Putting us in the paper lets us know that you care about us. You may not know this, but the cafeteria staff is some of your most loyal readers.”

It is always nice to hear that our writing is well received by others, especially those who work so hard to support our education.

When Guilford closes for inclement weather, these staff members still drive to work. Even in good weather, the hours for our cafeteria staff vary from a 40 to 60 hour week.

The Guilfordian would like to thank the Meriweather Godsey staff for all of their work.

Eric Brown, Guilford’s grounds manager who has been with the college for seven years, also appreciated our thanks for the grounds crew’s service.

“We appreciate it so much,” said Brown. “We love seeing the success that the students achieve and being able to contribute to that is fulfilling. Students understand that we are working for them as much as for our employer.”

Brown also conveyed how our students work closely with our staff.

“We have several students like Danny Hubert, Daniel Nolan and Hunter English who work with us as part of the work-study program. It is great to see them grow and contribute to their success at Guilford.”

Carson Baker has worked for the grounds crew since November.

“The college provides us with an opportunity to take one class for free each year,” said Baker. “Going to college is something that I never had the opportunity to accomplish with my family’s economic background. This opportunity is due to the unique environment of Guilford College.”

As we close out another year at Guilford College and depart for the summer, our staff will continue their work. As our seniors depart for the real world, our staff takes pride in their accomplishments.

For our staff, a thank you goes a long way towards illustrating our gratitude to their work.

Having our staff see their words in print shows that we at The Guilfordian recognize some of our most loyal readers.

We would be remiss if we did not also thank President Kent Chabotar for his service over the last twelve years. Whether you agree with his policies or not — and we have often disagreed with them — he served our college without shrinking from the responsibility. When The Guilfordian took issue with him, he never interfered with our freedom of speech. When writers derided his leadership, he never ran from his duties.

Kent served our College for three times the length an average Guilford student spends here.

Where other administrations have shut down college papers that take issue with their policies, Kent gave us the gravitas to question his leadership, thereby allowing us the room to grow our journalistic skills.

So, thanks for standing by us even when we criticized you. Thanks for working with us when we chastised you. Thanks for sticking it out for twelve years because you believed in us, because that’s the Quaker way.

And, thank you for diligently caretaking Guilford College, because, though you depart office we understand that we must continue that charge: to care for our staff, faculty and the lineage we inherit, because that is the Guilford College way.