Dear readers, 

It is difficult to articulate our pride for what Voices has become. You have readily adopted this historic newspaper as your own, and the support we’ve received for this 50-year testing grounds of young journalists has defied even our greatest expectations. We first want to first say a massive thanks to you, our readers. Every word is written for you, and we are immensely grateful that you’ve taken time from your busy lives to read our publication. We wanted to provide you with some information about what Voices has managed so you, too, can understand all the wonderful things you’ve enabled. 

In just under three months, Voices has published over 100 articles. Yes, you read that right—over 100 articles have been published on the Voices website since our September “awakening.” For the sheer number of articles, we can only thank our incredibly talented and motivated staff. You guys bought into the idealistic, inchoate vision the two of us shared and worked to make Voices into the ever-evolving life form you now see. Furthermore, an astonishing one out of eight students at WT have contributed to the site, and we could not be more grateful to the creative, courageous writers who have helped us reach this landmark achievement. 

We could not go through the past few months without mentioning one piece in particular. Field Hockey Season Cut Short Due to Neglect has been read 1,298 times since its publishing a month ago and drew crucial attention to an issue few heard about but everyone needed to know. When we started this year, our hope was to publish stories that made a profound difference in the Winchester community, and that article embodies the realization of our goal. 

We also covered some historic events like the big win at Hershey, the end of the prosperous Fay era, and Helen’s foray into the fashion review scene. We managed to bring back traditions like Meet the Freshmen, New Faculty Interviews, and the State of the Union, and we have recorded significant world news events like the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Japanese parliamentary elections, and Pittsburgh’s historic mayoral election. Voices has been able to create its own unique time capsule of WT and world history throughout this year, and for that, we are very proud. 

Another rewarding accomplishment has been Voices historic partnerships with Bear Talk Podcasts and Media on Morewood. Through collaboration with these fantastic organizations, we have been able to centralize much of WT’s media content and neatly put the best of Winchester entertainment into your hands. Their presence has simplified access to episodes of Bear Talk or How the Cookie Crumbles and provided a place for Media to publish their wonderful content to adoring fans. 

Our last thank you goes to the incredible, supportive, humble, and wise Mrs. Sickler. She has talked us down from our (Daniel’s) many insane ideas, and she has always been the heart of the Voices creature. For every meeting we had, late-night ideas we stumbled across, office visit we made, and class we crashed, Mrs. Sickler knew how to proceed and how to deliver. Nothing happens without her, and we can’t say enough about the work that she’s done. 

The two of us are beyond excited to take Voices into 2022. We have plenty more surprises in the works, so be sure to keep an eye out for the new releases. Again, thank you to our staff, Ms. Sickler, and to you, our readers, for believing in us, and we’ll see you in the new year. 

Your Co-Editors-in-Chief,

Ben Winslow and Daniel Kochupura