Dear readers,

The 2025–26 school year has been both The Echo’s and our fourth year at MSE. As we sit on our “thrones” (Ms. Hesseltine’s two spare stools) in the dungeon and reflect on what our newspaper has accomplished, we wanted to do what we journalists do best—write. 

First, we sincerely apologize for the misinformation we spread in our letter from the fall: Instead of eight issues of The Echo, nine issues—plus one beautifully ridiculous masterpiece we like to call The Achoo—have hit the press. For you STEM nerds, that’s exponential growth from our previous years.

This year, our newspaper took its award-winning streak to new heights. Long Island University honored two reporters with the George Polk Award for High School Feature Writing, and Baruch College recognized us with two Newsies awards. 

It’s been an honor to amplify the voices of our incredibly dedicated staff. Some of The Echo’s finest pieces of this year include “HSMSE Students Join Nationwide Anti-ICE Protests in Walkout of 200,” “Recounting the History of the Internet With Dr. Leonard Kleinrock,” and “A Digital Divide: How New York’s Electronics Ban Exposed Journalistic Homogeneity.” These articles reflect the rigorous pursuit of truth The Echo strives for. And the best part? All three were written by future leaders of our newsroom. 

All this to say, The Echo’s not done yet. Though we won’t be here to lead C5’s newsroom in its representation of the student voice, we are leaving The Echo in capable and ready hands. Next year, our beloved paper will continue to flourish under future editors-in-chief Ariam Tedla (’27) and Yalli Zussman (’28). 

Our time as editors-in-chief has been the most overwhelming and rewarding experience of our lives. We’ve competed with the morning announcements to shout drafting deadlines at our exasperated staff, furiously italicized every publication’s name in final layout, and scrambled to produce just enough “weird little guy” doodles to fill white space.

We sign off this letter not with sadness but with excitement for how the future editorial board’s visions will come to light—without any clouds obstructing them, of course ;). We know our paper’s stories will Echooo in our hearts forever.

Signing off,

Ocean Hiller and Willow Mintz