Congrats! You made it! Way to go! Insert meaningless affirmation on life here!

It’s finals. You don’t need to be bullshitted. You need the straight-up. So here it is, from the girl who will always tell you what she thinks. This was my first year as opinion editor. It was also a year where we downgraded to a smaller desk, with seemingly constantly revolving doors when it comes to employment. We focused on quality over quantity and, while I’m not saying we were perfect, I feel confident that the opinion page has become more respectable than in the past. I mean, just look at all the people who’ve gotten pissed about this or that column. If the section was truly a joke — as I anticipate some will label it — would you get so worked up over what we said?

We even introduced a new feature this year, Viewpoints. I cannot tell you how proud I have been to hold the voices of the ISU community on my pages, how honored it makes me feel. I deeply thank every participating member of that program, both present and past, and encourage other organizations or individuals: If you have something you want Daily readers to see, contact us. We’ll work with you to get it out to the people.

In fact, I’d like to close with a suggestion. Come work for us — and it is work, mind you. I can honestly promise we won’t judge your work based on your views or stances. That’d be kinda … y’know, counter-productive to the opinion section’s purpose. If you ever feel we do, call us out on it.

Besides, I’m not as scary or all-controlling as some commentators online have made me out to be.

And that’s the straight-up truth.

Sophie Prell is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Alta.