Editorial | The Panther’s farewell to the academic year

The Panther staff gathered for a celebratory, end-of-year May 14 picnic on Memorial Lawn after testing negative for COVID-19 at the Student Health Center.

This year has been crazy. And what’s crazier is being tasked with reporting on the crazy. 

But it’s a task our staff took on with sustained diligence throughout this past year — one that will be carried beyond into the following academic years. Last August, we embarked on a yearlong journey of one unbelievable news event after the next. Every day was uncertain; every day offered a new story to share.

After The Panther was temporarily on leave in March 2020 due to campus being shut down, our veteran staff was heartbroken that we weren’t able to continue reporting during a time when our community needed it most. But as the fall 2020 semester was quickly approaching and more news began developing, we requested and received approval to begin working during the summer, determined to rise to the challenge of our roles and provide some sort of clarity to a world that made no sense.

Our editorial board gave it our all — whether it be coverage related to COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, violence against Asian communities, California wildfires, mass shootings, white supremacists, the general election or hybrid learning. 

We were able to find plenty of joyful moments and share that joy with our Chapman community: our Christmas special issue, a few good laughs over the famous Mike Pence fly, highlighting student creators persevering through the pandemic, a slew of fantastic guest speakers and awards season coverage, to name a few. Every staff meeting was always met with smiling faces, despite many of us never having met one another in-person. 

We looked forward to logging on for our Sunday, Wednesday and Friday Zoom meetings. We quickly came to appreciate each other’s work and value each other’s input.

MK Mitchelson, our social media manager, constantly cooked up all those polls you see on our Instagram.

Rupali Ingle, our illustrator, turned random, half-baked editorial ideas into brilliantly designed artwork. 

Mimi Fhima, our copy editor, mounted a fearless crusade to eliminate the use of Oxford commas and “yet” in our articles — and though we haven’t yet mastered it, we thank her for her keen eye. 

Zach Davis, our web editor, was up until the early Monday morning hours making sure all our online stories were pristinely uploaded.

Harry Lada, our art director, brought a gleaming smile, an ever-changing hairstyle and show-stopping graphics to brighten up our team. 

Sam Andrus, our photo editor, fearlessly ventured into unfamiliar situations as a photographer and never failed to crack a timely joke to boost our mood. 

Ryan Cartee, our podcast editor, jumped into the radio booth on campus to deliver engaging conversations with unique characters.

Joe Perrino, our sports editor, always said a lot with very little and had a sweet fridge.

Mady Dever, our opinions editor, made the normal seem extraordinary in every one of her columns.

Megan Forrester, our assistant features editor, found a niche by investigating any fun thought that popped into her head. 

Micaela Bastianelli, our features editor, transformed the section from event coverage into lively entertainment and community-building stories.

Juhi Doshi, our assistant news editor, became a leader on staff from her first day as just a freshman. 

Angelina Hicks, our politics editor, decided one day to cover the Orange County politics beat and has demonstrated incredible precision beyond her years. 

Katie Reul, our news editor and incoming editor-in-chief for the fall semester, made our paper 10 times better by speaking up about racial injustice and mental health struggles, intensely covering these important topics. 

Luca Evans, our managing editor, brought a creative agenda to a once-repetitive and methodical publication, sparking innovation to the core of our writing.

Jasmin Sani, our editor-in-chief, steered The Panther through ups and downs and days when we were all clearly buried by the weight of the world, always putting on a brave face for the rest of us. 

We aren’t perfect by any means (we’re college kids reporting on some of the nation’s biggest issues). But if we’ve helped clarify some things along the way — big or small — then that’s all that matters to us.

Through it all, we’re proud of each and every one of our staff members. Coming back in person in the fall will be just another learning curve — not only for a fresh batch of staff as we transition back to print issues, but for all Chapman students. Though many of this year's editorial board members may be graduating, The Panther will always be there to do our best to provide for our community. We’re eager to come back to doing what we love the most.