Jessica Barnett

Editor

I started this semester with more than a few goals in mind. A lot of them were the usual sort that always found themselves on a goals list: eat better, spend wiser, study harder and sleep more.

There were others that were more specific to this particular semester. For example, quit smoking and stress less.

So far, I have achieved one of those.

I started my time at The Spectator with more than a few goals in mind. Get the website up and awesome. Increase our web traffic and Facebook likes. Create something people enjoy reading.

So far, I have achieved part of each of those. We have 15 times as many Likes on our Facebook page now. Our website is running, and parts of it are awesome. We get more compliments than critiques, but we are by no means perfect and still get critiques.

Honestly, I started my entire Columbus and W experience with goals in mind.

I wanted to travel. I wanted to do things I have never thought about doing before. I wanted to finally be successful in getting a degree. I wanted a career path I didn’t loathe or feel pressured into. I wanted to leave a mark on this town that was sure to leave a mark on me.

I am still a few decades from achieving that last one, and I have some serious competition in my graduating class.

In my department alone, the talent is outrageous. From show personalities to artists to writers, we have the potential to make history and change the world. Spend just a little bit of time looking at the bad bosses graduating from the other departments, and we have a dangerous competition ahead of us.

Not that we will actually be competing, because at the end of it all, we are some of the most supportive people you’ll ever meet. Even in our most stressful, lowest moments, almost all of us find a way to offer support to the struggling student next to us.

What makes us even more awesome is that we know exactly who doesn’t fit this mold of support, stress and solidarity, and we are not afraid to join forces in singling them out for not being a true member of the family.

We are a W community. We are a force to be reckoned with, and in just a few short weeks, many of us will be released into the “real world” to show them just how powerful we can be.

Some of us will stay local and continue to contribute to the local community. Others will branch out.

I doubt any of us will fail to leave a mark on those around us. We simply are not those kinds of people.

We are a community of life-changers and history-makers.