By Alex Serrano

This is my last paper here at the Beacon as managing editor. Let’s just say I’ve learned quite a bit. I learned about effective communications. I learned to take criticism, especially when I deserve it, and dish it out, in a school-friendly manner. I learned all about that mythic quality, “journalistic objectivity.” I have really enjoyed going out and covering events I normally wouldn’t have gone to, and meeting people I wouldn’t have met.

I must admit that I never truly grasped a creative vision or aim for the paper. Maybe the paper has stumbled for it. Last year, the front page was a place to take a stand, rile some feathers, made a fuss. This year, usually I’d put it off, not think about the front page for a week, and then scramble to find an unsuspecting on-campus event to fluff up.

As William Randolph Hearst once said, “News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising.” I certainly feel that without a positive direction to work towards, we haven’t been doing the kind of riveting journalism that would ruffle some feathers. Our controversial topics of the year? The dissemination of Gaming Club into three separate factions. Insulting the entire Midcoast Campus. Petty things. We haven’t exactly been making waves here, folks.

So while the thrill of seeing one’s writing in an official printed source will probably never fade, I must pass the baton into the capable hands of Ben Riggleman, currently our copy editor. I hope you all pay him the same sort of obliging respect you paid me. So here goes nothing. Get ready for another great semester of The Beacon.