By Charles Pan ’18, Siddarth Tumu ’18, Dean Tan ’18, Editors-in-Chief

Welcome! On behalf of the editorial staff of The Minuteman, we hope you enjoy this first set of the 2017-2018 editorial board with articles exclusively from the new editors.

We, Charles Pan, Siddarth Tumu, and Dean Tan, are your new editors in chief and we’re looking forward to an exciting and eventful school year ahead.

First, we would like to thank Kiran Damodaran, Rakhi Kundra, Jocelyn Tolpin, and the 2016-2017 editorial staff for all the hard work and dedication they put into the newspaper last year; without the current graduating seniors, none of what you read in this set would be possible. The seniors served as inspiring role models for us, and it is our hope that we can continue their legacy.

What is the role of The Minuteman as the official school newspaper of Newark Academy? Our greatest hope for the upcoming school year is that The Minuteman can serve as a means through which we can highlight and feature the many accomplishments of Newark Academy students, teachers, groups, and clubs, as well as a platform for Newark Academy students to voice their opinions on various topics both within and outside the school. Because of Newark Academy’s naturally fast-paced atmosphere, it’s easy to lose track of the amazing achievements and awards happening within the school and it’s difficult to find opportunities to facilitate school-wide discussions on today’s pressing issues. We hope that The Minuteman will be able to take on a more prevalent role at Newark Academy in exposing some of the more unnoticed feats that go on within our community and spark community-wide discussions on some of the most important issues of our generation.

First and foremost, The Minuteman is a newspaper. Though it may seem obvious, it’s important that we emphasize that the aim of The Minuteman is primarily to provide a reliable and well-written source of news and opinion. While it is true that we are a school publication and need to adhere to certain restrictions in order to be appropriate for the school body, The Minuteman aims to be no different, journalistically, from any major news source. At a time when the very idea of journalism is being challenged with the idea of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” our commitment to journalistic integrity remains steadfast. Within the paper, we hope to exemplify the type of writing and reporting that makes the best newspapers so great, with timely, relevant, and balanced content that represents a variety of opinions and topics. Our aim is to candidly discuss not only the aspects that make the NA community so great but also the things that could be improved.

But the fact remains that The Minuteman is a student-run newspaper. We don’t get paid to write articles, we haven’t attended journalism school or class, and we simply can’t always be on the front lines of breaking news stories. The editors and writers of The Minuteman are still students, athletes, and musicians, among many other things; we may be extremely dedicated to running and contributing to the newspaper, but the reality is that The Minuteman doesn’t exist as just the school newspaper. In a sense, we’re deeply and intimately connected with the school body; we’re never just writing about something or someone, but a part of “us” – the Newark Academy community. The Minuteman, therefore, is a self-reflection; who are we as school? What are we proud of? What don’t we agree on? What’s on our minds? What do we find funny, or reassuring, or challenging, or troubling? These are all questions that we hope you ask yourself, and maybe find the answers to in the paper.

So what does this mean to you, the reader? By virtue of you being here at Newark Academy, you’re already profoundly connected to The Minuteman. Similar to the ways in which clubs, athletics, and the arts are extensions of the school community, we hope that The Minuteman can serve as another means through which students can engage in issues they care about. We ask that you stay informed by reading the paper, discussing it with your friends, and most importantly, talking to the editors and staff writers about topics you want covered in the paper. With a greater level of community engagement and writer output, we hope that The Minuteman can be an intrinsic and indispensable part of the community that is accessible and enjoyable for one and all.

In this edition, you will find opinions about the French Presidential Election, a profile the lives of student athletes, a review of Kendrick Lamar’s recent album, DAMN, and much more! We hope you enjoy, welcome to The Minuteman!