It’s hard to believe another semester is drawing to a close. It feels as if I turned in my application to work for the Iowa State Daily as a wide-eyed freshman just yesterday — and now I’m halfway through my tenure as the Daily’s editor in chief.

I’d like to take a few moments to write about what all my sorely neglected friends and family will tell you I know best — the Daily.

It’s been an exciting semester for us. We hired more new reporters, photographers and columnists than I’ve ever seen throughout my time here, and I hope you’ve all noticed how much the quality of our coverage has improved as our writers have gained experience.

But it’s not just the names with bylines that have seen improvement this semester. Our behind-the-scenes team of copy editors and designers keep getting better with every paper we publish.

And none of it would be possible without our talented, dedicated staff of editors — and our other veteran staffers who have shown the newer ones the ropes. 

We’ve tried a few new things this semester — some with more success than others. Our new partnership with ISUtv has been hugely beneficial, and I think it will continue to positively impact the way both of our organizations will cover things like elections and on-campus events. 

You might have noticed that commenting has been disabled on our website since this summer, when we converted to our new content management system. We made the decision, last year, that we would remove commenting abilities until our web developers could perfect a system that eliminates the possibility to comment anonymously. That’s taken a bit longer than we expected, but I’m happy to announce that commenting will — barring any unforeseen complications — return to www.iowastatedaily.net with the start of the spring semester.

We’ve also taken a new approach to our Editorial Board this year, welcoming the addition of several non-Daily staffers. We now have representation of demographics that, in the past, haven’t had much of a voice on the board. But there are still so many unheard voices on this campus — voices that could make a valuable contribution to the Daily’s Editorial Board. So, if you’ve got something to say, I encourage you to submit an application to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

I wish you all the best of luck on your finals, and safe travels to wherever your home for the holidays might be. And, as always, if you have any questions, suggestions, story ideas or general feedback, please send them my way at [email protected].