EDITOR’S NOTE
Suicide is a leading cause of death among college and university students in the United States and the second leading cause of death for people ages 15-24. So why are we not talking about it? Jenny Fischer said it best in her perspective piece on page 36, “not everything worth talking about is easy or enjoyable.” “Breaking the Silence” is a student media-wide project that has been in the works since last semester. Jenny and Marie Crowe (“Breaking the Silence” page 30) were brave enough to share their personal stories in this Journal. I greatly admire their willingness to fully disclose what they have been through in hopes to help start a conversation. The next three issues of the Marquette Tribune will dive more into the topic with informative pieces on suicide. MURadio will be airing a series of PSAs in the coming weeks and MUTV will be hosting a public forum with experts on the subject. Along with the suicide project, the seniors on the opinions desk reflected on their time at Marquette, sports looked into the history of Marquette club hockey and arts and entertainment explored Milwaukee’s open mic scene. I owe a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this magazine. I have learned so much through every editor, reporter, designer and photographer and I know they all have extremely bright futures ahead of them. This issue also couldn’t be possible without Design Chief Anabelle McDonald. Not only did she spend countless hours designing this issue, but always did so with a smile on her face. Another big thanks to Executive Director Patrick Thomas. His dedication to every branch of student media is incredible and I know he will continue to bring the Wire to even greater heights as he continues in his role next year. I also can’t thank Devi Shastri enough for taking on our cover story “Breaking the Silence.” Although she faced many obstacles, I never doubted her ability to take on such a complex story. In case you don’t take my word for her being a fantastic writer, she has several Society of Professional Journalist and Milwaukee Press Club awards to prove it. The Marquette Wire staff has also been blessed with the addition of our new Director of Student Media Mark Zoromski. Mark brings nearly 40 years of journalism experience to the table and has been a great mentor to us all. His positive energy and passion for student media is also quite contagious. I promise this is the last thank you, but I feel exceptionally grateful for Delzer Lithograph Co., who generously offered to print the Journal for us as a donation. It has been an honor serving as Journal editor and I hope you enjoy reading this magazine as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Best of luck to McKenna Oxenden as she calls the shots next year as Journal editor. I can’t wait to see all her fantastic ideas come into play.
- Stephanie Harte 4
MARQUETTE JOURNAL