Letter from the Editor

February 17, 2020 / no comments / 1555 views

Hey Patriots, 

This week, my Co Editor and I are happy to announce that this issue will feature one of Mason’s women’s sports teams on the cover. This is the first time this school year that we’ll feature a women’s team on the cover, and I hope we get to do more of this going forward.

I had the privilege this week to interview Mason basketball player Allie McCool for the sports section. McCool is the forward on the team, and is someone who should be a contender for the “Coolest Name in the Universe” award, if such an accolade exists. 

Interviewing members of a tight-knit team made me grateful for the team I work with every week. Everyone my Co Editor and I have brought on brings really effective sets of skills with them, and I appreciate their ability to balance their technical skills and creative voices and ideas immensely. 

Anyways, we’ve got some awesome content for you guys this week. Our News section took a trip to the Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) to learn more about research efforts to reintroduce an endangered species. I personally wish I knew more about the work Mason students and faculty do at SMSC, so I’m excited to tell you guys you can find out more on page five. 

This week, our Culture Editor Peter gave our readers some tough love about spending habits in our regular feature More Money Less Problems on page 10. He insists the most effective tip for managing your money is to think critically about what you spend it all on. It was helpful, but me and my pension for Dunkin’ iced lattes felt attacked. 

Our Sports section profiled senior Bryce Gatling, a volleyball player here at Mason. He explained the importance of the legacy the team leaves behind each season as he reflected on his time here at Mason. I found his favorite memory of the volleyball team especially amusing, and more on that can be found on page 11. 

Our Opinion section tackled the issue of whether or not Latin is still a useful language to understand on page 16. After reading that piece, I definitely reconsidered my own stance on the “dead language.”

And as always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, you can reach us at masonfourthestate@gmail.com.

 

Sincerely,

Dana Nickel

Co Editor-in-Chief

Letter from the Editor Opinion
About dananickel
Dana is a junior at Mason double majoring in Communications with a concentration in Journalism and Global Affairs with a concentration in International Development. She is the current Co Editor-in-Chief of Fourth Estate and has worked on stories ranging from in-depth coverage of donor influence at Mason to the arrival of Brett Kavanaugh as a visiting professor at Mason's law school.