With love and gratitude, the Class of 2021

This school year, dubbed “unprecedented” by many, brought its fair share of difficulties and hardships.  However, as a community, and specifically as a staff of journalists, we overcame these trials, growing closer, from six feet apart, with each other along the way.  As members of the Senior Editorial Board, we are fortunate enough to have spent the majority of the past eight months together in our Newsroom, and we are able to look forward to traditional end-of-year celebrations.  In September, we welcomed the new King Street Chronicle Staff in person and maintained our long-standing traditions in the Newsroom.  Now, as the academic year comes to a close, we reflect upon our three years spent on the KSC Staff, acknowledging everything we have learned and anticipating the continued success of the newspaper.

Throughout our journeys as journalists for the KSC, we have been lucky enough to witness many leaders in the Newsroom who taught us to lead by example.  From the first day we walked into Room 314 as anxious sophomores, we were welcomed into a community like no other.  Beyond the seemingly bizarre traditions of Gong-ringing and bark-making, this community made us feel comfortable and afforded us a place in which we could grow into leaders.

When we returned as juniors, we knew what to expect, but we could never have known what was to come.  We became Zoom journalists, adapting to a time in which everything was new, different, and confusing, and yet our drive and passion continued due to the unwavering leadership and perseverance of the 2020 Senior Editorial Board.  From this example of utmost dedication and commitment, we entered the Newsroom in September with a desire to continue this legacy and foster an environment in which all were encouraged to grow as individuals and become the next generation of leaders. 

Our experiences last year prompted us to make this year one we would never forget, filled with innovation, enthusiasm, and amusement.  We formed a new column, KSC Alumna Spotlight, to honor and recognize the past leaders in our Newsroom, and we created our Journalist of the Week series on Instagram to highlight the members of our current staff, with features from recent alumnae.  We also made efforts to increase our social media presence, with weekly polls and maybe a few too many Boomerangs on our Instagram story, to connect with past members of the KSC Staff as well as our readers.  We hoped to further build the community of KSC journalists, both past and present, and allow others to see the long-lasting nature of the skills taught in the Newsroom. 

This year especially, we were honored to lead the publication, following in the footsteps of the past leaders.  We tackled the year with “Grit and Grace,” and of course masks on our faces, as we tried to maintain time-honored traditions in the hopes of making a very unusual year feel as normal as possible.  Although we could not see the smiling faces of our writers and editors this year, we appreciated their smiling eyes and sounds of laughter, as well as the bonds we were able to form with each of them.  The effort and enthusiasm from the younger members of our staff pushed us to keep leading, teaching us more about the power of optimism than we ever could have thought.  For this, and for so much more, we are grateful for our 2020-2021 Staff, not only for the constant laughs and abundance of material we could add to “The Board,” but for their dedication to the paper and Sacred Heart community even during the hardest of times.

Now that we have thanked both the current and former Staff of the KSC, we cannot forget the most important thank you.  This goes to our beloved adviser, Ms. Larson.  There are not enough words or pages in the Style Guide to describe the impact that Ms. Larson has had on us, not just as students but also as individuals.  Truly, in just three short years, we have learned more about writing, leadership, and journalism than we ever could have anticipated, and we leave the Newsroom with a plethora of new skills, and most importantly a memorized Style Guide, that we know will carry us through the next chapters of our lives. 

Ms. Larson, you taught us to grow from our mistakes and to not settle for anything below our standards.  You allowed us to become confident, in ourselves and in our abilities, and provided us with unwavering support, mentorship, and love.  From reciting phrases from random movies to discussing Taylor Swift lyrics, you ensured that the Newsroom was always full of laughs, and hard work, of course, and kept our team together.  Beyond this, you emphasized the importance of accurate journalism and using the power of words to have our voices be heard within and outside our school community.  You fostered an environment in which we felt comfortable sharing our own opinions, and you gave us the literary and journalistic tools to transform these thoughts into impactful pieces of journalism.

We thank you, Ms. Larson, for everything you have given us, whether knowingly or not, during our time in the Newsroom.  You helped us transform from clueless sophomores to empowered senior leaders, with a drive and skillset that will stick with us long after Graduation Day. 

As we move beyond the gates of 1177 King Street, we will continue to cherish the lessons and moments we learned from our Class of 2021 sisters, the KSC Staff, both past and present, and Ms. Larson.  We know that the paper will continue to thrive under the leadership of the Class of 2022, and we look forward to seeing how they will further its legacy.  This journey and everything we have learned from it will stick with us forever, and we hope that the impact it had on us is comparable to the mark we left as journalists at Sacred Heart Greenwich.

Featured Image by Natalie Dosmond ’21