Noa Salas Adam's Closing Comment

The Spectator is one of the things I am going to miss the most about Stuyvesant. I’ll miss texting my amazing co-editors from Features—William, Florence, and Rano—Staff Ed calls that make us lose our minds, learning so much while editing Science, and joking in Spec Class. I’ll miss working with Stella, who is a brilliant editor and collaborator and has always supported me.

Joining Features is one of the best decisions I have made, ever. I love interviewing students, teachers, and administrators. Features was fun because I always pitched and picked up articles that I was genuinely interested in. Some of my favorites articles are two I co-wrote, one about media literacy, the other about book bans, and an article I wrote about Stuyvesant’s sexual harassment policy. Every piece challenged me to include as many perspectives as possible, and I always admired my editors—Hifza, Abby, Cathleen, Leah, Grace, and Ada—and how they left so many helpful comments and track-changed edits. Becoming an editor gave me the opportunity to do the same and help other writers improve their pieces. And as much as editing for phrasing is and was extremely satisfying for me, my favorite part was suggesting other details that could be added to make the article complete, like an extra interview or the acknowledgement of an additional facet of an issue.

Being in Spec Class was a complete game-changer for me because it made Spec a real community. Suddenly, I met and talked about the news with other editors who loved the paper as much as I did. I had access to all of the Google Drive folders and understood how the articles by the Editorial Board were written. I read over the PDFs from Layout and realized just how much of a combined effort it takes to publish a paper every other week. Hifza and Myles brought so much life to the class, and I am so grateful that they guided Stella and me as we became acclimated to being Editors-in-Chief, and still now, especially with my departure.

I haven’t decided to attend an international boarding school in Hong Kong because I want to leave, but because I want to go, if that makes sense. I love and will always love Stuyvesant, but I’m also excited to learn in a completely new environment. The journalism I have participated in at Stuy has led me here; it helped me realize that I want to keep writing and sharing people’s stories, that I want to learn as much as I can about others. Thank you to everyone who has collaborated with me and made Spec the publication that it is. I’m so excited to see what Stella and Evelyn do next semester. I’ll be reading online (and maybe guest contributing?). I’ll be home for the holidays!