Since my freshman year at Castleton, I’ve been working for The Spartan newspaper on campus and now, as editor, I realize how lucky we’ve been to have had such a supportive administration.

We schedule interviews with school leaders when it’s convenient for us and them, and thry happen. The faculty and staff are always willing to talk to the reporters and they trust that we will report the truth from an unbiased perspective.

President Dave Wolk has always been willing to speak to student reporters and even emails our advisor, Dave Blow, when we email him instead of stopping in personally.

Even if he doesn’t agree with everything we report, he recognizes the importance of the freedom of the press and he encourages the students who chose journalism as a major just as he encourages students pursuing other less visible careers.

This is so important and I appreciate it so much. I feel so grateful that I have been given the opportunity, through The Spartan, to practice, grow and improve.

Dave Wolk is resigning in December this year, and I fear that the next president won’t be as supportive as he has been, especially considering how some of our government officials in office currently have given the media an even worse reputation than it already had.

People are always questioning the truth and reliability of the media and it is definitely discouraging being a student who wants to get into that business. There’s been so much talk about fake news and a biased media that, honestly, we need all the support we can get.

So it is so important to me to have the administration on our side as journalists, but more importantly as students. I don’t want to be afraid that the journalism students of the future won’t get the chances through The Spartan to be published and do the things it takes to create a strong resume and portfolio.

It is imperative that we have willing sources on campus and a proper budget, because without interviews and without money it makes it hard to put out any news at all let alone well-researched, informative articles.

We’ve had so much freedom and I would hate to have conflict between the members of The Spartan and the administration. I have high hopes for the future, however, I have faith that the committee will choose a president who is supportive of students of all majors and will view The Spartan as a valuable asset, like Wolk has. I, along with Blow, and fellow editor Briana Bocelli, and all the editors before us have built and shaped this paper.

We are so passionate about it. I want to graduate this December knowing that the paper will continue to grow without fear of people trying to break us down.