Eight issues. Eight columns. Eight two-day layout nights. Eight times seeing my name in print and eight times feeling the excitement of the papers coming in. I wish I could feel this feeling more.

When Mrs. Crotzer pulled me out of art class at the end of junior year to ask me to be the sports editor of the Hoofbeat, I was ecstatic to say the least. I was also a little bit nervous. I didn’t know how to build two newspaper pages from scratch or write a column about my opinion on sports, but I caught on.

I never expected to learn so much from this class. I learned so much about different parts of my school. I interviewed people I had never talked to and learned their story. I found a way to scratch my curiosity itch.

I never expected to grow so attached to a high school class. On the days Mrs. Crotzer and our editor-in-chief assign stories, I woke up excited to find out what I will learn about for the next few weeks. I come to second period Advanced Journalism everyday happy to be there (although you might not be able to tell because I probably just woke up 10 minutes ago). I wish I could feel this feeling more.

I will take so much away from being on this staff. I learned the importance of hard deadlines and how important it is to be organized. I found a group of people I barely knew and became friends with them because of our mutual love for writing words on a paper. There are no words to express how thankful I am for that.

To the staff: thank you for being a amazing, nerdy, eccentric, talented group of people that I can always count on to surprise me or make me laugh. I will never forget my second period of senior year because of you. Good luck to all of the seniors next year!

To our editor-in-chief, Leily Zu: you don’t get enough credit for all you have done for the Hoofbeat. I can’t imagine how much you had to balance while trying to edit an entire newspaper. I truly look up to you and best of luck at UCLA.

To Mrs. Crotzer: there are no words to describe how much I will miss you. You have become one of my favorite teachers and certainly one that I’ll always remember. Thank you for teaching me so much, being patient, and eating lunch with me on fieldtrips. Those lunches are some of my favorite memories from journalism.

Lastly, to the readers: thank you for making my voice and opinions feel heard. Thank you for reading and appreciating my words, and taking my opinions into consideration. There aren’t enough words to say how much this paper means to me. Thank you for listening for eight issues.