Letter From the Editor Dear reader, Thank you for picking up the February edition of the Encounter, “In with the New.” I felt this title applied to the current atmosphere of our society. For starters, the United States has a new President! In January, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States (thankfully with no attempted coups) and he’s already hit the ground running with some executive orders. We cover Biden’s first couple of weeks in this edition, with perspectives from students on both sides of the political spectrum. No matter what side you’re on, we can all appreciate the absence of nonsensical Twitter updates from a guy with a poor spray tan. Speaking of new things that everyone can appreciate, 2021 is the year that we finally have COVID-19 vaccines! These vaccines were a culmination of the hard work of scientists and medical professionals from all over the world. Rarely do we see this kind of concerted effort for a singular cause. If you have the opportunity to get a COVID-19 vaccine, please do so! I would like to see people’s smiles in person again. We can only get rid of this virus if a good portion of the population is vaccinated and stays on top of the precautions we already have. I secretly wish that things would start getting back to normal this semester because this is my final semester of college. It’s bittersweet; I have truly made some amazing memories during my time at the University of St. Francis and I would not be the person I am today without the friendships and connections I made here. Part of me thinks that I have to drastically change myself, from a college adult to an actual, ‘for real’ adult. This might sound naive but I had always envisioned that my transition from ‘baby’ college student to ‘mature’ college student involved wearing more business formal attire (it does not; I’m wearing sweats in Brown Science Hall as I write this), using fancier jargon (I hate using jargon), and having more money (this cannot be further from the truth). This is a weird transitional period that I and other college seniors have to go through and sometimes I don’t know what to make of it. But the pressure to change doesn’t just limit itself to college seniors. We just started a new year and people constantly go around throwing the phrase “New Year, New Me.” Does that actually work though? What if you don’t want to change and you like yourself already? We cover that topic in this issue as well! Many of the Encounter’s staff are also graduating this year and we are looking for some new talent to join our team for the next semester. If you are interested in joining the Encounter as a writer, graphic designer, social media coordinator, or website developer, please reach out to us at encounter@stfrancis.edu or follow us at @usf_encounter on Instagram! From myself and all the staff at the Encounter, we hope you enjoy the “In with the New” edition!
Janelle Suriaga Editor-in-Chief
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February 26, 2021
