Let the adventures begin.

Welcome back, Middlebury. After browsing through the photos you submitted to The Campus’ Summer Photo Contest, I know that many of you did some really spectacular things this summer. You traveled, you spent time with family, you made new friends. You soaked up beautiful vistas, you met exotic animals, you pushed yourselves to your physical limits. Middlebury, you enjoyed some serious adventures this summer.
I am excited to say I had some adventures of my own over the break, and I learned a valuable, albeit simple, lesson: adventures are important. Really, really important. So important that I have pledged my last three semesters at Middlebury to adventures.

What makes an adventure? Loosely defined, it could be anything that gets your heart up over its resting rate, but then work-related stress tends to do that, and stress is the anti-adventure. More specifically, I think adventures are deviations from the norm. They are trying something new, doing something spontaneous, facing a challenge, overcoming a fear, allowing yourself to be vulnerable. Talking to that person who makes your palms sweat and staying up irresponsibly late with friends instead of homework — those are adventures. Taking a class on a subject you know nothing about or starting a club so other people can share your passion with you — those are adventures, too. For me, spending as much time outside as possible usually leads to adventures. They don’t all have to be grand — I just want to have lots of them. I am a much happier person when I have lots of them, I’m learning.

I have pledged my remaining time at Middlebury not only to my adventures, but to your adventures, too. You, the entire Middlebury College community, have so much potential for adventure, and this, your favorite weekly news rag, is ready and waiting to write about it. Any student, staff or faculty member, townsperson or alum has the potential to grace these pages (both print and web pages) with his or her exciting exploits, and I am so glad the privilege of documenting them is mine.

Pardon me while I get all misty-eyed about college journalism, but the last Editor-in-Chief, Brian Fung ’10, always used to say that The Campus is the first draft of history, and that really stuck with me. We are making history — The Campus is the first, though likely not the only, place our adventures will be recorded, our achievements lauded and our letdowns lamented. As the new team of dedicated editors and I set out to print that first draft — an adventure in itself — I expect to be nothing less than inspired by the stories that come out of this community, mostly because that is the precedent you have already set. I am already inspired. That’s why I took this job.

So I am dedicating my time at Middlebury and my time at the head of The Campus to adventures: yours, mine and everyone else’s. The other editors and I will do our best to provide a reliable source for discovering upcoming adventures and learning about adventures past. You just have to get out there and give us something to write about.