So long, farewell

By Mia Timlin

I truly can’t believe that we’re at the point in the year where I’m writing this letter. I think that I sort of thought it would never actually come—that I would spend the rest of a looping eternity sitting in the Wheel office, putting together last-minute stories and leeching off the writers around me when I can’t think of a good headline.

I’ve had the most frazzled fun getting to be a part of The Wheel. I came into St. Kate’s my first year not knowing a ton, but knowing that I wanted to work for the student newspaper. I sat down for an interview my second week on campus, and came out the other side an editorial intern. Since that interview, The Wheel has undergone so many changes that the term editorial intern is now obsolete, and all the faces that welcomed me onto the team are now gone. To get to be present for and a part of so many of those changes has been an absolute dream. 

In our office, there’s a stack of filing cabinets that hold printed-out copies of The Wheel that date back to the 1930s. There’s hundreds of them, featuring the thoughts, concerns, joys, sorrows, innovations and lives of the students that have made up this campus over the years. In those file cabinets, their stories are accessible and tangible—something that Ella, our Associate Editor, and I wanted to bring back this year. 

For the year, we had one main goal. We wanted The Wheel to offer those stories again, just like the decades of ones that are piling up in our filing cabinets. We wanted an entrance back into the real conversations that were happening on campus. We wanted to print more, to remind students that we are here. I truly hope that effort was felt.

This is the last edition of The Wheel that I’ll be a part of. Each and every one of these editions we put out was only possible because I’ve had an amazing team to work with.

I couldn’t have asked for better staff writers than Rayan Abdulkadir, Eleanor Anderson, Skylar Mattson, Faduma Ali and Lexi Davis. I am constantly astounded by how passionate and dedicated these people are, and I’m so grateful to have been given the honor of reading their work every two weeks. Thank you so much for being storytellers for this campus.

I also want to thank Madeline Bjonskaas and Bella Lee, for all the time, effort and creativity that has gone into keeping The Wheel running smoothly, and helping it reach as many students as possible.

Lastly, I have to thank Ella Tracy, with whom this past entire year wouldn’t have been possible. In the three years that I’ve spent on The Wheel with you, never once have you lowered your aim from a crazy dedication to creating good, important, beautiful work. The Wheel is in the best of hands with you next year.

Thank you for reading The Wheel this year. Thank you for picking up copies and solving the crosswords and sudokus. Thank you for writing in advice questions and sending us your own submissions. Thank you for pushing back and for asking questions and for holding us to a standard deserving of student news.

I’m so grateful for the time I got to spend as an intern, as a writer and as an editor for this paper, and I can’t wait to see what it does in the future.

Joy,

Mia Timlin