This Editorial was first published in our first print edition of the 2023-24 Academic Year
To take a different tone to my fellow EiC team, coming into the position of a deputy-editor-in-chief in my fourth and final year at Edinburgh University has filled me with hope. As a first year in the infamous 2020/21 academic year, I found The Student Newspaper and took comfort in writing. The newspaper has been a space to explore immediate interests but also broaden my horizons and I hope this year’s readers find they feel the same.
Within The Student’s physical and digital pages, you will find students exploring and investigating the state of the university, Edinburgh, art, literature, film, sport, science, and the world. Specifically in this issue, there are hot opinions on Barbenheimer, reviews of Olivia Rodrigo’s latest album and a rant about podcasts, but also updates on the athletic world championships, university strikes, RAAC and the accommodation crisis. As a reader or a contributor, this paper is your platform to explore disparate opinions and passions; and to learn about the world and yourself in this unique time as a student.
Now, I’m going to sound very old here, but these years are a chance to grow and develop not just as students but as people. It may be a complicated, messy, frustrating learning curve, but trust me when I say it is worth it. Despite the pandemics, strikes, assessment deadlines, and personal lows, I am entering the 2023/34 academic year with hope. But hey, this hope may be dashed by the time this print enters your hands, but it will be regained.
One thing you will read about in The Student is our generation’s capacity for resilience throughout all the crises. So here we are, a new academic year, a new newspaper team, and no doubt a new set of crises heading our way. But I have hope that we will all get through it and come out the other end as strong, well-informed, curious, and opinionated people. As a shy Film and TV contributor, I certainly did not conceive in my first year that I would step up to the role of a deputy editor-in-chief. Yet this is what happens at university.
Image via Rachel Hartley