The word “leader” can be a sinkhole. It’s everywhere in the atmosphere of our campus – apologies for sounding trenchant, but sometimes I imagine the scene in Brave New World where the infants are played those kind of mind-control tapes, and some Westminster representative goes through the mantra “Be a shepherd, not a sheep”. What does that mean anyways? Leadership is such a vague floating mass that we all try to grab at. Even as young as freshmen, your parents are saying: colleges want to see leadership; shouldn’t you apply to be the head of this club?

And maybe I still don’t know what it means that I am a leader of some caliber, or maybe all of us know exactly what it is. We have watched enough TedTalks to know the anthology of buzz words – integrity, creativity, resilience, patience (something I definitely need to work on), authenticity. A leader is supposed to be an amalgamation of all these things, the primed leaders in our society, and yet, it’s not that cut and dry. The Roman general leading a charge against the Visigoths is caught in the liminal space between two extremes: either he will succeed and be memorialized as a sharp mind and a hero, or he will fail, and the wrath of hindsight and history will descend. I am trying to refrain from calling myself a Roman general, but here’s my point: we aren’t in the Roman empire (although that would be really cool) and no one is going to die over the Bi-Line. If you thought that was going to be profound, I hope you are mildly disappointed.

The Bi-Line isn’t about me though – it’s about our 60+ staff, the biggest it’s ever been. It’s about the typo you find on page 5, even though I have combed these pages for hours and it seems the inky words are embossed on the back of my skull. I am so proud to call the Bi-Line my troublesome child this year – one you love, even though they often make things difficult. I will protect it at all costs. Progress is another facet of leadership – how could I forget the ambiguous “progress”, as it has oozed out of every politician’s mouth and every school pamphlet? Everyone is progressing it seems, and so should the Bi-Line. Look out for some ways I want to mix things up this year. We have a huge battle in front of us (not really) to cover campus news and national, even international news succinctly with grace, and sometimes a bit of humor. Thank you to all the writers who have delivered us those prophecies, as you are the real leaders. I just make sure you’ve done it. Where’s the glory in that?

The Bi-Line has always been the voice of Westminster students, since its founding in 1963. All voices are welcome to add to the cacophany. I want to encourage everyone, who has any sort of opinion, to be a guest columnist. Whether your piece is about your take on the political climate, your harrowing traffic tales, or maybe about the Top 10 albums of the month, we encourage you to have them published. If you are interested in being a guest columnist at any time this year, contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. I want to turn over the underbelly of this school, and I want everyone to write about it, as long as it is appropiate, of course.

Thank you for listening to my muddled musings, and I hope to continue the excellent legacy of the Bi-Line, even as it grows up each year. A newspaper is a funny thing. It can live on forever, if we take care of it. Let’s show the Westminster Class of 3089 that we are pioneers in the field of journalism; it’s how we keep each other accountable in this confusing world.  Both of us are extremely blessed to be leaders, and to finally have something to put on our college applications!