Fellow Blazers, it is safe to say that 2015 started off with a bang. We here at The Spectator did our very best to keep you in the know about any and everything happening on your campus. While we tried to make sure every photo was crisp and every article was detailed, we know there is still so much more going on at this school than this dedicated staff of highly qualified reporters and editors can cover. This year has seen resignations and elections, crime and awards, peaceful protests and radical demonstrations. We’ve been recognized for academic triumphs and for nationwide news coverage. Blazers, we have shared a lot of memories this spring semester of 2015.

Many have, in the last few weeks, made comments about the state of VSU. Public posts on social media gave way to campus-wide criticism of where our college is heading. Enrollment decreases and tuition increases have taken front and center in the eyes of students here and those eager to put on that black and red in the fall.

To the unsettled hearts and minds, we say this: This is Valdosta State University, the home of the Blazers and the West Hall Dome. We are what we make our school. We are a community, dedicated to a level of higher learning that many have not dared attempt. We are our football team as well as our Anime and Manga Club. We are the debate team and Greek Life. We are students, faculty and staff. We are a body, with people of all different shapes, sizes, colors and creeds. We need to come together, celebrate both our differences and similarities.

Next year, those who are still here, go out and join a club you’ve never heard of, take a class you wouldn’t normally try, walk around without your phone and make new friends. Those who are sadly leaving, take that with you wherever you may go. Talk to the person next to you on a bus, apply for that job you really want but don’t think you will get, tell someone about your years here with us.

Let us remember, as you tuck yourself away in the last available study room, as you pack up that minifridge and well-used microwave to be stored away for the summer, as you search Pinterest for that perfect design for your graduation cap, you are—now and forever—VSU.