As I put the final touches on my last issue of Washington College Review with just a few weeks until graduation, I find myself reflecting on the past just as much as I’m looking to the future. My years with WCR taught me so much and gave me an opportunity not only to grow as a writer and an editor, but to make new connections, step out of my comfort zone, and contribute to the campus’s ecosystem of creativity.

Even though I haven’t left yet, I can tell how much I’ll miss Washington College, WCR, and our vibrant literary community. A heaviness settles over me when I think about the fact that I’ve already attended my last WCR meeting, that I’ll never spend another hour on the Literary House couch poring over submissions with Logan and Jess as the afternoon sun angles more and more sharply through the blinds.

Before I can feel the full weight of leaving this wonderful community, my eagerness to see what next year’s staff will create nudges its way in. Watching Logan and Jess prepare for the next issue without me has been the perfect reminder of why change is necessary. While I have loved my time at WCR and feel so proud of everything I’ve contributed to the publication, I know that this ending leads to a fantastic new beginning; if I stayed in the same place forever, I’d stop growing—and so would WCR. It’s time for fresh perspectives, novel approaches, and an updated set of skills.

This issue features many explorations of vital concepts across disciplines. Some contributors are, like me, preparing for postgraduate life, while others will continue enriching the campus community for semesters to come. Despite the many differences between the pieces published in this issue—and between their authors—each work helps us make sense of the world around us by addressing difficult questions and examining the harmonies and incongruities that fascinate us.  

As always, I hope that readers will treat this issue as an opportunity to broaden their horizons by exploring projects from unfamiliar courses and learning about the disciplines that so many of their fellow students are dedicating their lives and careers to. I’ve loved getting to engage with each of the pieces published in this issue, and I hope that as I head into the next stage of my life, WCR’s readers and contributors step out of their comfort zones and into new chapters.