Life isn’t grouped within periods of time connected by an overarching theme. There wasn’t a single motif permeating the collective thoughts of our writers and designers in creating these stories.

This year, IMPACT has no theme. Instead, IMPACT is a passion project–a collection of stories, such as our communities of transgendered youth or the transformation of one former gang member’s life. The stories our journalists found have resonated within them through their reporting and design to make the same Impact on our readers.

We all have different passions and different interests, even as journalists. We sought to capture the lives of the students on our campus not only physically within this institution, but the impacts they face outside the relative educational safety neatly confined by Comet Circle. From the discrepancies in pay our graduating women will face outside this college to the hashed-up recipes we make on measly budgets to sustain our daily activities, these stories will find a home within your own lives and hopefully resonate within it.

In college, and in life, new concepts and ideas can be overly complex. In the given moment of its introduction, we overthink our understanding of it into a simplified thought that’s then easily digestible. These collections of stories are our attempt at synthesizing the thoughts and feelings of a complex topic and creating a human element that is not only relatable, but it’s impact can be felt despite its complexities. As IMPACT has affected our lives, we look to this publication for it too to make an impact in your own world.