Letter from the Editors: Concluding the Record’s 129th Year

5.11.20

Dear Wheaton Community,

This year has been one of the most challenging yet sanctifying and fruitful years for both of us. Despite staffing changes, late publishing nights, handling several controversial news stories and going through personal life circumstances that pushed us to our human limits, God was faithful to provide for each day. As Co-Editors, we’re grateful to have had the opportunity to work together. It was amazing to see how God fit our skills and work styles together, so that we were able to encourage both each other and our staff. We have learned so much about networking, diligence, conflict resolution, research, communication and faith, and we’re so thankful to have grown in these areas while leading an excellent team.

In our first Letter from the Editors at the beginning of the academic year, we stated that one of our main goals was to bridge the gap between the Record staff and the campus community. 

As part of this effort, we reached out to other student groups on campus to learn how we could best serve them through our publication, and kept in touch with them throughout the year. We also collaborated with College Union to organize a coffee house event, which gave us the opportunity to actively engage with Wheaton’s community. Through this event, the Record was able to become more of a central presence on campus rather than the isolated student group it had been before. 

We also worked to increase the diversity of voices from https://thewheatonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG_0048.webpistration, faculty and students that were featured in our weekly publication. In doing so, we continued one mission of the paper to provide a space for conversations to happen around campus that are built around factual news and empathy. We also published monthly HNGR student profiles to connect Wheaton to its global community. 

Finally, we wanted to foster a welcoming environment for our own staff. During the year, we actively recruited writers, editors, designers and photographers from multiple areas of campus to foster a more inclusive working environment. Furthermore, by providing students with on-the-job editorial training and publication opportunities we developed a cohesive community of talented and passionate individuals. Students were able to gain professional work experience while also being part of a strong community. Besides working together, we shared meals, developed inside jokes, went on weekend staff outings and hosted two staff parties at the beginning and end of the fall semester.

Thank you to each member of our student staff, and all contributing writers and photographers. We are so thankful for your diligence, your willingness to work under pressure with constant last minute changes and the ways in which you inspired us and shared your joy. We’ll always be thankful for the laughter that filled the office, even during stressful times.

Thank you to all https://thewheatonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG_0048.webpistration, faculty and advisors for the ways that you encouraged us to keep pursuing the truth and holding us accountable to producing good journalism. Thank you, especially, to our professors this year who were gracious and understanding whenever we showed up to Friday classes bleary eyed and half asleep.

Thank you to our advisor, Professor Drew Bratcher, who faithfully worked with us until all hours of the night on publishing day, made himself available to advise us about life in and out of the Record office and prayed for us and each member of our staff. We deeply respect you and your ministry to Wheaton students.

Thank you to our friends outside of the Record who were gracious and patient with our work schedule and who stuck with us through it all. Thank you to our roommates who left the apartment lights on when they knew we would be out late.

As we step down from this role, we are excited to welcome the next Editor in Chief of the Record. Katy, we are already so proud of the work you have poured into preparing for next year, and we’re excited to see how God works in and through you as you lead this publication. Working with you this past year has been a joy, and we are confident that you will lead well, with grace and wisdom and a commitment to glorifying God through journalism. This B-Quad, we’ve all had to transition from print to online publishing, and this reveals exciting potential for what Record staff in the future are capable of accomplishing. We wish you all the best.

Thank you to all who have read the Record this year and supported us in our work. It’s been an incredible honor to serve campus in this way, and we look forward to all God will continue to do through future staff.

Sincerely,

Madison Cash and Eliana Chow
Co-Editors in Chief of the Record, 2019-2020