For all the longevity of The Cavalier Daily as an institution, its staff transitions are anything but drawn out. Some occasional shadowing aside, the outgoing staff works feverishly right up until election day. There's a transition meeting the following morning, and that afternoon the incoming board members sit down in their new offices to start work on their first issue - which, by the way, they have a matter of hours to assemble before deadline hits.
With one day's preparation, everything changes. As we recall well, there was precious little time for second thoughts, self-doubt or even some casual talk with the people who were soon to become our best friends.
We on the 121st managing board now sit on the other side of that transition. Elections come tomorrow, and Monday's publication will mark the first for the 122nd staff. By that time, we'll be old news. It's an abrupt send-off, but so life goes in the world of a daily newspaper.
For now, we use this final editorial to reflect on what has been the kind of year that will stand tall among all the others in our memories.
There has been no shortage of important news since we took our posts. The shocking story surrounding the death of Yeardley Love emerged just days after our final paper of the spring semester had been published. A small but driven team of writers and editors worked through final exams, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. That story and the ongoing investigation of the Morgan Harrington homicide are among the most difficult subjects we covered, particularly given that our reporters are very much a part of the community they write about.
Along with those difficult events came a number of remarkable, positive stories. There are too many to list, but we feel privileged to say we covered the first transition to a new University president in two decades. That Teresa A. Sullivan is also the University's first female leader only adds to the significance.
During our term, we've certainly not gotten every decision right - far from it. But we like to think even as we've made mistakes, we always did so the "right" way: with the best of intentions, a fierce drive to improve ourselves and some good humor thrown in.
It's a common refrain for soon-to-be-outgoing managing board members to "joke" about getting their lives back, which includes sleep, good study habits, social time and the like. All kidding aside, it doesn't take long to realize that although the past year may have seemed like a whirlwind, we were participating in something truly extraordinary. The seemingly endless coordination and effort that goes into producing a single issue can be exhausting. That we managed this feat a total of 128 times this past year is nothing short of miraculous.
Come tomorrow, this paper won't "belong" to us anymore. It's someone else's turn to make the same kind of memories that the five of us will cherish for a lifetime. So we take this last opportunity to thank everyone who has made the experience unforgettable: our dedicated staff, well more than 100 individuals and thus too many by far to name here; those friends and family members who understood when they didn't see or hear from us for a while; the administrators and student leaders who more often than not drive our content; the fine folks in Newcomb Hall who helped us move back and forth as our basement offices were renovated this past year; and of course, our readers, whose importance as the end consumers is paramount.
To everyone, we hope we gave you a publication that this university could be proud of. That was our goal from day one, and it remains so as the 121st staff signs off one last time. But regardless of the end result, we know The Cavalier Daily has given us much more than we have given it. For all the talk of service, our time here was much more an opportunity than it was an obligation.
We have tried to avoid clich
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