Well, Lake Ridge, this is it.  I knew that we would be saying goodbye, but to be honest, it seems a bit too soon.

Lake Ridge High School will always be a part of the senior staff of ENN.  We were the athletes, the performers, the musically gifted, and academically sound students that were never really noticed.

We went from being the subject of the headline stories to the ones writing them. We were still on the front page of the newspaper, but in a much more understated way and while that wasn’t the plan, it is hard to imagine any way we could be happier.

I still remember the first headline story I wrote.  It was about trendy Halloween costumes.  Not the most exciting stuff, but it was laying the ground work for things we wanted to do in the future.

What we wanted to do is what we’ve done this year; leave our mark on the Eagle Nation Newspaper and build on the foundation that was laid during our junior year.

That mark is the beautiful new look of our website that showcases the work of our talented staff of student writers and the content we have produced daily.  The online news cycle runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and now, so does the Eagle Nation Newspaper.

Senior staff writers, Melinda Weenig and Aysia Holder, shared their thoughts about Lake Ridge and ENN.

“I want to say that everyone (on staff) is absolutely amazing. I love each and every one of you. The last thing I want to say to Lake Ridge is ‘thank you’. Thank you for all the memories and thank you for believing in me,” Weenig said.

“Stay strong and don’t be afraid to do something out of the box,” explained Holder to the staff of ENN. “The last thing I want to say about Lake Ridge is that it’s been fun! Sayonara!”

First year Editor in Chief, Jacob Uggen, shared his favorite memory of this past year at ENN.

“My favorite memory from newspaper is when advisor, John Sohel, wore the Timberview cheerleading uniform (after losing a bet),” Uggen said. “I would like to say, keep working hard and thank you for everything. I’m going to miss all the friends I have made and all the laughs we have had.”

And with that, I close my final column as the Editor in Chief of the Eagle Nation Newspaper. Thank you to our principal, Dr. Vonda Nunley, for trusting us to report all the news at Lake Ridge.  I hope we have made you proud.

Thank you to everyone who we have had the privilege of sharing the pages of ENN with over the years.

If it wasn’t for my staff, the paper would be a four-page phamphlet with little substance.  So many of them are sophomores and juniors and I envy everyone who gets to read them going forward.

I’d like to thank our advisor, John Sohel, for sticking up for me when I got myself in some trouble. Without you, deadlines would never have been met and chaos probably would have ensued.

But most of all, I’d like to thank my fellow senior staff: Jacob Uggen, Melinda Weenig, and Aysia Holder. The late night paste-ups via text, high-volume arguments about stories and blaming Jacob for everything, even if he made our lives 100% easier, are memories that will stick with me for a long, long time.

A legacy is the impact you leave when you are no longer where you were.  I leave “our baby” in the capable hands of ENN’s new Editor in Chief, Whitney Steed. Take good care of her Whitney.  I will be reading.