Welcome back to campus, Bears. We are so glad you are here. Whether today is your first day at Baylor or you’ve done this a few times, we hope your first day of classes goes well. The Baylor Lariat’s editorial board is made up of a group of Lariat editors who meet each week to discuss the issues, events and conversations shaping the Baylor community and beyond. Our goal is to write on issues and events we believe are relevant to our readers.

It makes sense that internships feel uncomfortable. It’s because they are our first experiences building out our professional identities. We spend eight to 12 disorienting weeks trying on different hats, figuring out and deciding what we’ll want to be known for in the office. Do you want to be the outgoing leader? The quiet worker who excels in certain tasks? The Swiss Army knife? There are endless professional personas to choose from, and you’ve probably only considered this concept in the past three months. So it’s perfectly okay to feel a bit out of body for the summer. But don’t let it discourage or embarrass you.

Within the past couple of years, there has been a shift in the amount of young people attending church. Social media is packed with more teens and young adults making content about Jesus and going to church. Christian music from young artists is even making its way into pop radio. But amongst this surge, it is important for churchgoers to know, going to church alone is an important task, one that a lot of young people especially should participate in.

Baylor’s fiscal issues are affecting far more than the dollar amount you see in BearWeb. It is fundamentally changing our university and what makes Baylor, Baylor. It’s hitting departments, retirement and, on a personal level, The Lariat’s newsroom.

Flirting involves overthinking a like on an Instagram story. It’s noticing who views your story first and what that might mean. It’s going through someone’s TikTok reposts, trying to understand how they think, or if there’s something they’re trying to say about you without actually saying it.

After well over 100 articles with my byline written and hundreds more read and published after crossing my desk, my time with The Lariat has officially come to a close.