As members of the Class of 2024 and the Co-Editors-in-Chief of the King Street Chronicle, we are honored to welcome our readers to a new year of publication.  We approach this year with gratitude for the lessons we have learned as editors and with confidence in the success of our new writers.  During our final year in the Newsroom, we hope to inspire the next generation of reporters by leading with love.

To begin the academic year, senior Jane Murphy, Executive Board President, introduced Sacred Heart Greenwich’s 2023-2024 theme of Lead with Love.  She explained how the support of peers and faculty influenced her to select this theme. 

“When I was asked to decide on a theme for the 2023-24 school year, Lead with Love immediately came to mind,” Jane said.  “I felt that this perfectly encapsulated what I had learned in the three years I’ve been at Sacred Heart.  In my time here, I have gained the confidence to challenge myself and try new things.  As I prepared to enter my senior year and reflected on my years at Sacred Heart, I realized that this confidence sprung from the love present in our dynamic community.  This shared compassion and joy is found at the very core of our school and has now become a foundational part of my life.”

On the Editorial Board of the King Street Chronicle, we strive to embody this same schoolwide approach to learning and leadership.  We are privileged to welcome 12 new staff writers to the Newsroom this fall, and we aim to cultivate their journalistic confidence through a strong network of collaboration and support.

As we begin a new year, we reflect with appreciation upon the guidance of our past editors.  We continue our commitment to high-quality daily publication, and we remain dedicated to the Sacred Heart Goals and Criteria.  As members of the press, Goal Three affirms our mission to foster “a social awareness which impels to action.”  We seek to remain observant and attentive to the untold stories of our school, locality, nation, and world.  Our responsible reporting, in turn, will lead our peers at Sacred Heart to a greater collective awareness. 

Goal Five also informs our mission in the Newsroom, as we pursue “personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom.”  At the King Street Chronicle, we not only explore our existing interests, but we also broaden our perspectives by researching unfamiliar subjects and reporting across sections.  Truly, the success of our newspaper depends on the curiosity and initiative of each individual.  We have inherited this passionate mindset from our previous editors.  Now, as leaders ourselves, we aim to foster an exploratory journalistic attitude in each staff writer.

During a morning meeting in September, Jane led the Upper School in a prayer that addresses the power of love.  Jane spoke about its relevance. 

“There is a prayer by Fr. Arrupe that perfectly sums up this idea: ‘Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything,’” Jane said.  “I have realized the importance of love in my life, and it is fundamental to everything I do.  Love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, and I have learned to use it as a guide.”

Indeed, love itself is a leader in our lives.  Love motivates our decisions.  As our Sacred Heart education has taught us, love is an active choice to channel our intellect, will, and efforts toward the betterment of others.  In the Newsroom, love drives us to inform our community with comprehensive and reliable publication, to inform ourselves about local and global realities, and to use our digital platform to seek truth and justice.  

St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart, called upon Sacred Heart students, educators, and alumnae to shape the world through their own integrity.  As we celebrate our school’s 175th anniversary, we reflect on her advice.

“Your example, even more than your words, will be an eloquent lesson to the world,” St. Madeleine Sophie said, according to sacredheartusc.education.  

As leaders of the King Street Chronicle and the senior members of the school community, we strive to set an example of love.  By choosing to work actively for others, we can influence the school community to do likewise.

This year, we approach our positions on the Editorial Board with humility, respect, and joy.  We look forward to nurturing a passion for journalism within all editors and writers.  In preparation for our lives beyond King Street, we strive to Lead with Love, carrying with us the “courage and confidence” of which St. Madeleine Sophie spoke.

It is our sincere pleasure to welcome you to the King Street Chronicle.

Featured Image by Avery Kim ’24