Dear Readers,

This has been one of the most unique and crazy years in recent memory. Somehow, this collided with my first year as editor-in-chief, and I will be honest: it was fantastic. 

In the 2019-2020 academic year, we faced tough challenges as a community — a mumps outbreak in the fall, the coronavirus outbreak in the spring, a historical impeachment, primaries for a new president, school closures, canceled events, online learning, controversy, and confusion. 

All in all, it was an interesting year, but one that I hope The Comenian was able to help you get through. 

Writing for the paper has been one of the things that has kept me sane as a student this year. I was happy to research and write articles about the world events going on around us. For me, it was a chance to learn and to understand, which was only made better by being able to share the information I gathered to a welcoming and critically-thinking community. 

This year was a big year for The Comenian, as well. 

We became an award-winning paper, honored by the Pennsylvania News Association with a video journalism award for Jamie Ernst’s piece, “Moravian Couples Celebrate Valentine’s Day.” We were nominated for Organization of the Year by the College’s Omicron Delta Kappa chapter.

Better yet, we were honored in a more informal way through your readership and responses. 

I have not been able to attend classes these past few weeks without receiving compliments on behalf of our team from professors, students, and members of the administration. Your kind words have been inspiring to all of us and have helped encourage us while we took on one of our biggest feats: to become a weekly newspaper.

Since March 23, we have been operating as a weekly newspaper instead of a bi-weekly one, which was the case ever since I was a freshman. 

This is no small feat, even though it may seem inconsequential to some. The increased number of stories our reporters have been writing while enduring a hectic time and transitioning online was difficult to sustain, and the toll of brainstorming, editing, revising, organizing, and posting these stories was tough at times. But we smiled through it, driven by the need to keep the college community connected. We are incredibly proud of our accomplishment, and we hope that you benefited from our dedication to student journalism.  

We would never have been able to get through this year without our support system. 

Not only did we have support from our amazing advisor, Professor Mark Harris, and our absolutely stellar writers and editors, but we had support from our readers and the Moravian community, which is what really matters. 

You all sent us ideas, suggestions, and responses to our articles. We completed a living history project because of your willingness to reach out to us — and for that we are grateful. We wouldn’t have a paper if we didn’t have readers. Even if you just clicked on a few articles that we posted on Facebook from time to time, it still mattered to us. Any reader we were able to teach, touch, or make laugh is a success. 

So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. We wouldn’t be here without you all. 

Have an amazing and healthy summer, and I look forward to serving you all again in the fall!

Yours, 

Elizabeth Horn

Editor-In-Chief