This issue of PANOPT marks the end of Volume I. The past four weeks have been overwhelming, challenging and beyond amazing. We have reported on dengue outbreak and the IFG, raised questions about our school identity, gender issues and the 2MC courses, and featured the party scene and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on campus. With every new issue, we continue to enjoy the thrill of producing a weekly newspaper, working with the PANOPT team and moving towards becoming a better newspaper.
We look back to last semester—the late night planning sessions, the skype calls to Editors of student newspapers and the endless list of questions that seemed to follow us around everywhere. The questions started with the functional, “How do we run a weekly?” represented our fears, “Is this going to work?” and moved to what seemed the most consequential, “Do we really need to do this?” The answer to the last one was, and continues to be a resounding, “Yes”, and we want to use this column to thank everyone who makes PANOPT possible and worth it.
We would not be where we are today without the motivated and high-energy contributors who joined our team earlier this semester. They continue to drive PANOPT forward with their ‘a-ha’ moments and their passion to make PANOPT a platform for critical discourse on campus.
We also want to thank our readers for reading, critiquing and contributing to every issue of PANOPT. We love hearing you say, “Oh, PANOPT should do an article on that” or “We are reading every issue cover to cover.” Seeing you carry around the latest issue of PANOPT or debating it in intense breakfast conversations has been our greatest reward.
We will not be publishing issues for the next two weeks because of the Fall Break and Week 7 trips. We will release a double issue the week after to mark the beginning of PANOPT Volume II and our one-year birthday. We feel like proud parents of a child that has grown up all too fast.
Let the conversations continue and we hope you have a lovely break and an exciting Week 7!
Yours always,
Joyan and Spandana
Managing Editors of PANOPT