As the year winds down and the warm weather rolls into town, we have entered the final stages of what has been, to put it lightly, an insane year.
After the reporting whirlwind that came through UI and its vandal alerts a few years ago, I honestly could not imagine anything topping that during my career at UI and The Argonaut.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Even with the fantastic reporting done by that old team, it was beyond amazing to see what The Argonaut staff has accomplished this last year.
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the world and our normal lives completely upside down, leading to challenges and experiences we never imagined or could have predicted.
Completely virtual interactions in school and the workplace, being shocked to see your classmate’s mask-less face in person for the first time and feeling uneasy when seeing a large group around each other. This has been the new norm and looks to be that way for a little while longer.
Vaccines are rolling out; more businesses are opening back up and many are finally seeing friends and family for the first time in months. It feels like waking up from a bad dream.
How it is already May again is astounding, with every month seemingly containing a years’ worth of news without fail.
Despite how much has happened and the never-ending list of things to be reported on, The Argonaut staff has continued to publish outstanding content for their community and readers. This gave the organization the experience and momentum to finally enter the next era of moving our reporting and operations to the digital space.
There will still be print publications going forward and this decision was not made for any financial reason. It’s just the best choice moving forward.
Despite being less frequent, expect each special edition print issue to be filled to the brim with content throughout the 2021-2022 school year.
It is not very often that a team of young adults, let alone college students, are asked to uphold the standards of professional journalists during a global pandemic while navigating classes, other jobs and the many challenges of higher education.
As the soon-to-be-former Editor-In-Chief and an upcoming graduate of UI, I ask you to please take a moment to thank all those staff members who have given so much to keep the Moscow community informed every day.
This doesn’t just include the mountain of work needed to properly cover the pandemic, but the constant coverage of UI’s operations, community leadership, human interest stories and seemingly endless games for the Vandals.
I am honored to be an alumnus of The Argonaut, to have worked with countless amazing people and to make life-long friends who made it all possible.
Continue to support your local news organizations and journalists and the outstanding work that they will continue to produce in the near future.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at argonaut@uidaho.edu or on Twitter @kellogg_zack