Dear reader, I’m so thrilled that you decided to pick up our first issue! Hopefully you enjoyed what you saw, and you’ll continue reading. Personally, I could not be prouder of this issue my staff and I have put together.

A little bit about me, I am serving as your Editor in Chief for the 2025-26 school year. I took over this position unexpectedly in January. I was grateful to have the former editor still on staff to help me with anything I need. But this year, it’s all on me.

While that pressure does scare me, I’m also excited to make executive decisions and ultimately let my writers and photographers have creative control over their work. What some deemed as “too controversial” in the past, I want my writers to feel excited to act as real journalists and have fun with this job.

Ultimately, that is my main goal this year, to have fun. I am a senior, so this year is filled with “lasts”. Instead of focusing on the underlying dread that comes with graduation and figuring out life after college, I’m going to focus on how fun I can make these next 11 issues.

I want to write about what people care about, what people are talking about. I want the controversy and the gossip because that means people are talking and reading our paper and not just using it as placemats for messy painting or oysters.

While most editors wouldn’t wish for these things, a big goal of mine is Wofford engagement. I am proud of every story and picture we publish, and I want the Wofford community to be proud too.

Our staff is composed of people who excel at what they do. We had a record hiring year and are excited to welcome six new hires.

Our photography staff added Lena Strauss ‘26 and Ellie Warren ‘26. Both Lena and Ellie are heavily involved on campus but are excited to have a creative outlet with OG&B. 

The writing team had the most new additions with Caroline Kennemur ‘26, Darcy Phillips ‘27 and Lilian Galloway ‘29. Most of our staff writers from last year are enjoying semesters abroad, so we’ll be excited for their return, but I think Caroline, Darcy and Lili are more than capable of holding down the fort in the meantime. I hope you enjoyed their articles for the first issue and can recognize the quality of their writing.

Finally, McNally Sowell ‘26 has been hired as our Marketing Coordinator, a mix of our previous business manager and social media specialist position. McNally is perfect for this job as she brings a creativity and professionalism to the paper that we truly needed.

Finally, I’m proud of our staff from last school year as our paper was named #22 in College Newspapers by the Princeton Review. This rating would not be possible without those still on staff and those who have graduated. I give props to Katie Kirk ‘25 for her dedication to the paper and unwavering support throughout the year.

I welcome back all of our previous staff; I’m excited to work with you this year and see what we accomplish.

Here’s to senior year!