Morgan Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief, The Mane Post

Only hours ago, a man walked into a high school, a high school much like the one from which I write. Armed with a shotgun and pistol, the 17-year-old shooter open fired at Santa Fe High School, South of Houston, Texas. Eight students and two teachers have been killed, and there are reports of 10 injured.

Two months ago, I interviewed a young girl from Broward County. She lived only miles away from Parkland High, the school which was victim to a tragic shooting earlier this year. Of all of her words, what spoke the loudest was, “It hit home”.

Today, May 18th, it hits home.

For me, for you, for the kids at Santa Fe.

Suddenly, the news is not the news. The news is alive, it is moving, changing; shaking worlds and connecting the distant headline.

This is a school paper, yes, but the words here, the stories, the articles, they carry the same goal: to connect. To bring the world alive to each reader and student. Whether it is Golf, a school dance a thon, or a class trip, engage with these pages, and the stories they tell. For truly, they are parallels to a much larger narrative, one of unity, peace, and hope, even in the midst of tragic circumstances.

Therefore, in the name of justice, of unity, of love, may we strive each day to connect the world and use the mind we’ve been given to fully understand, and empathize with our neighbors’ world. Because truly, you never know, one day the lines might blurr, and the distant story may become your life.

-Morgan Reynolds