“We are IVCC’s new power couple.” On the first day as the new Co-Editors-in-Chief for the IV Leader, we walked up to our new office, laughing about whether we were Madaelsa or Aelmaddi, ready to face the year with energy and high hopes.

Almost a year later, as we approach the end of the semester and release our final newspaper as Co-Editors-in-Chief, we admit that we didn’t get everything done we were hoping to accomplish, but we are also very excited about all the great things we, along with our fabulous staff, got to do over the last year.

We redesigned a masthead for our front page that reflects our connection to the history of journalism but also pushes toward tomorrow.

We increased our coverage of developments in the community, reaching outside the walls of our school.

We worked to improve our website. Our website is now recognized by the Illinois Community College Journalism Association, receiving second place at conference.

We managed to keep the paper running on schedule in the face of tragedy and power outages after the storms earlier this year.

We reinstated and grew our live sports coverage, webcasting not only home and away basketball games but also, recently, softball games. 

Maddi: Being the co-editor-in-chief was a dream for me. I couldn’t imagine a reporter like myself would jump several positions to the top, but I was ecstatic that my dedication was recognized.
Working for the IV Leader was a great way to solidify my decision to pursue journalism.

Aelsa: Every minute of my time with the IV Leader has prepared me to be a better writer, manager and student.
While I have never thought of myself as a journalist, I love writing, designing and working with people. My time here has been a joy and I am so grateful.

We came home from fall and spring conferences with several awards, including receiving the Mike Foster Award for General Excellence (Division II)—the highest award given to the staff of campus newspapers for community colleges of our size. 

But most importantly, we were a strong staff. We started the year with the largest staff the paper had seen in years, and while we lost a few people, the group we are ending with is the best group of community college journalists you’ll find.

The pressure of deadlines pushed us all closer together, and we are going to miss our team.

In the next year, the IV Leader will fall to new leaders. They will set their own goals and push toward new heights.

They will serve you by bringing you even better news coverage and finding new ways to grow. We entrust you, our readers, to their care.

Finally, we’d like to thank Lori Cinotte for being not only our faculty advisor, but our mom-away-from-home, the backbone that we all have relied on.

Additional thanks are due to our families and friends who have had to hear “I need to stay at school late” or “I have to go back to IVCC to work on the paper” more times than they probably thought they would when we got involved.

We are incredibly grateful for everybody on our staff, especially our committed section editors who have worked to meet expectations and conquer what can be a steep learning curve.

Finally, thank you for reading and making this year such a success. We’ve enjoyed our time representing IVCC to you: the students, faculty and staff.

Even as we say goodbye, one thing we know:

We’ll always be Eagles and we’ll always be IV Leaders.