Just over one year ago, I started my journey as a member of the Managing Board of The Tufts Daily. At the time, I had just finished my tenure as the Executive Sports Editor of the Daily, and I was nervously looking forward to taking the next steps as a journalist.
The world has changed a lot since then. Over the past several months, our community has been impacted by the immense challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, time and time again, we’ve seen the Tufts community lead with empathy and understanding.
If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that we’ve all been reminded of the importance of stepping back and counting our blessings when we are able to. On my last day as Editor in Chief of The Tufts Daily, I’d like to share this letter in the hopes of counting mine.
Thank you to the entirety of The Tufts Daily staff for your hard work this semester. It has been an honor getting the chance to work with all of you, and your talent and drive have inspired me every day.
To our News section, thank you for continuing to commit yourselves to reporting on the truth. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, your coverage was instrumental in recording Tufts’ response to the changing situation. As the year progressed, your continuing updates helped inform our community when it mattered most. For those of you who joined us this semester, thank you for sticking with it; seeing you be promoted from Contributing Writers to Staff Writers has made me so proud, and I’m excited to see where your journeys at the Daily take you.
To our Features section, thank you for your creativity and for presenting excellent, in-depth reporting. In particular, your stories surrounding the 2020 election, as well as those profiling the work of members of the Tufts community, have encapsulated the spirit of our school. Many of your stories have brought me hope on the hardest days, and for that, I am grateful.
To our Arts section, thank you for giving our community the best recommendations about what to watch (and what not to watch) during our time indoors. You’ve mastered the challenge of describing hours and hours of entertainment in the form of print, a talent that I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying throughout the year.
To our Editorial Board, thank you for speaking out about the issues on our campus that matter. To members of the Tufts community, I encourage you to exercise your First Amendment right to free speech by submitting an Op-Ed or a Letter to the Editor to the Opinion section. Open discussion is the cornerstone of our democracy, and the Daily stands by those values.
To our Sports section, thank you for bringing to life the section that brought me into the Daily. Your adjustment toward covering professional sports, as well as giving a voice to athletes who were not able to participate in their fall and winter season, has been incredibly thorough. Your love for the sports world shines through on the page, and I hope that you continue exploring the world of sports journalism.
To our Photo section, thank you for capturing this moment in history through engaging, thoughtful photojournalism. Your various photo spreads demonstrated the talent of your section, and the Daily is lucky to have you.
To our Audio, Video, Layout, Graphics, Copy, Social Media and Outreach sections, thank you for showcasing your skills as producers, designers, editors and leaders. Without you, there would be no paper; your work has allowed our content to be accessible to a larger audience, and you should all be incredibly proud.
Finally, I would like to personally thank each member of the 82nd Managing Board for leading by my side this semester. Rebecca, Hannah, Jake, Jilly, Kevin and Robert, you have each become some of my closest friends, and you are all entirely deserving of all the credit for this semester. The Daily would not be what it is without you, and I would not be the journalist I am without you.
Rebecca, thank you for your thoughtfulness in ensuring that our coverage is as intentional and inclusive as it is factual. Your work in I&I has been instrumental, and I’m excited to see the direction you take the paper in the future.
Hannah, thank you for your drive and passion that has allowed you to hold our reporting to the highest levels of credibility. Growing alongside you has been an honor, and I know that you will continue to inform the community in your next role as Executive Audio Producer.
Jake, thank you for taking the initiative in launching our daily and weekly newsletters, as well as teaching a new generation of reporters during our trainings throughout the semester. We’ve come a long way since being Assistant Sports Editors together, and I’m excited to collaborate once again.
Jilly, thank you for engaging our network of Daily members and alumni during a time when we needed it the most. Your work in designing the alumni board will benefit the Daily for generations, and we owe it to you for this service.
Kevin, thank you for putting forward your best work every day in our paper’s layout. Along with our layout team, you’ve set the standard for what a front page should look like, and I look forward to the day that we will be able to see it every day in print.
Robert, thank you for ensuring the Daily’s financial survival in the midst of this pandemic. Your long-term goals toward improving the paper will continue to allow us to grow, and your solutions to get there have set the stage for years to come.
To our readers, I appreciate your taking the time to read The Tufts Daily this year. Your voices, perspectives, feedback and engagement are vital in our mission as a newspaper for the Tufts community.
When we departed campus in the spring, the Managing Board wrote about how our community would continue to “spread peace and light to all corners of the world.” Since then, the Tufts community has done just that. As the world continues to change in the upcoming months, I am confident that the next Managing Board of the Daily will continue to serve in telling your stories.
Pax et Lux,
Alex Viveros
Editor in Chief, Fall 2020
