Letter from the Editor.

By Makenzi Johnson

My first letter from the editor was in October. I wrote about the mourning that was happening on campus due to budget losses, faculty cuts and stress. At this time, we wanted life to feel like the first half of the Titanic movie, but realistically it ended up feeling like the part where Jack Dawson sinks to the bottom of the ocean. We were still relatively fresh into the school year and just beginning to navigate these new changes. But now, we’re just days away from end-of-the-year projects, final assessments and packing up our dorms. 

Here we are, we made it. 

Now, I’m writing my last letter from the editor. There are things we may still be mourning, but there’s something to note about how the student body pushed through stress, how the Clarion found a way to print despite budget cuts, how faculty had to reinvent their futures. The people in these stories made it. 

Bethel alum Wes Burdine bought a queer bar and turned it into a queer soccer bar. Among some doubts, the meshing of the queer community and the soccer community has been successful. He made it. His bar made it. 

Four Bethel students share their experiences as first-generation college students of their families. Some of them struggled with language barriers, being separated from family and a lack of resources for college admissions essays. But they made it. Each of them made it. 

Our lifestyle editor reflects on being overwhelmed by the pressure of having to know everyone. But she’s made memories with a floor of girls that have become her family. She made it. 

Budget cuts hurt worse than finding out One Direction broke up. Grief stings like the Bactine your mom put on your freshly scraped knee. Life isn’t as easy as we wish it were. Things have been difficult. There’s still hurt on campus—but we make it. Being able to finish out a year as editor and reflecting on my first and last stories is a testament of how I made it. You reading this in May is a testament to how you made it through another year at Bethel. 

It’s almost as if God designed us to make it: make it work, make it last, make it through. 

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Photos by Mild Du.