As a young girl of roughly three or four years, I had an epic pajama set: a flannel Super Girl costume, complete with a detachable velcro cape. As part of our nightly bedtime routine, my father would fly me from the living room to my bedroom and safely into bed as I wore the giant red S and yellow underpants. Perhaps this is why I’ve always believed I could take on any challenge that came my way. 

My time as The Northwood Howler adviser began with the daunting prospect of filling Tim Horrigan’s gargantuan shoes seven years ago. The name of the legendary founder of all things Howler still echoes in hushed, reverent whispers in corners of the school. I set out with a singular goal: to make you forget Tim Horrigan wasn’t still here at the helm. Did it work? (Don’t answer that.)

With the job came a surefooted belief that I could conquer this challenge too, even if my last beat was my junior high school in 8th grade (not counting four years advising Yearbook at my former school, which is a completely different beast). 

Eighteen months after taking over the wild ride of newspaper advising, and just as I was starting to feel like a passable Horrigan facsimile, we plunged into the great unknown of COVID-19. Another monumental challenge materialized: how do you produce a paper about school when school isn’t really happening?

Amid the endless eight-hour Zoom calls on deadline day, we found a way.

We found a way in Howler many times when it didn’t seem possible. During my tenure, we won the only two state news writing championships in school history, along with three county write-offs. We expanded our online coverage to include more multimedia, podcasts, videos and photo essays. Many of my former staffers went on to write for their college papers and a few are now pursuing careers in journalism. I’m honored and humbled to have been part of that.

I spent these past weeks looking over literally every edition of The Howler since 2000, and came to the realization that though the trophies and plaques are nice, I am proudest of the cultural shifts Howler sparked on campus. Are we to thank for the fact that the boy’s bathrooms now have urinal dividers? Admin won’t admit it, but my students felt powerful when they were installed within a few weeks of us writing an article that humorously suggested alternatives.

The discontinuation of the senior college map in 2022 stands as my crowning achievement. In the accompanying article that explained that decision to the community, students articulated that the story of high school success is too complex to be captured by a star on a map. Instead of fueling the competitive, cutthroat comparison culture our school sometimes breeds, they challenged it.  

We changed the world that day. That was no small feat.

It’s time for me to move on to my next challenge, but for one brief moment in time, I was part of something wonderful and I will always treasure that. Thank you to all my Northwood journalists for being part of this journey, for challenging me and changing me for the better. I may be neither a bird, nor a plane, but I will soar toward my next adventure and meet it head on. Cape optional.