Dear Feather staff,

I had a letter of condolence prepared for you all. I was prepared to write words of sympathy, apology and encouragement after what I expected to be a disappointment at the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA)/Journalism Education Association (JEA) National High School Journalism Convention.

However, we walked away from the Washington State Convention Center clutching an Online Pacemaker closely at our side, and my letter has now transformed into one of excitement, praise and gratitude. I cannot express how thankful I am that I get to write this to you, the members of The Feather Online.

After months of nagging and pushing you to put up articles, we have tangible proof that our work has been worth the toil. The efforts of each staff member — whether an editor, writer, videographer or blogger — pulled together to form one of the top high school online newspapers in the country, one of 15 in North America to win a Pacemaker. Each staffer was a vital component to this success.

Our competition season got off to a bright start with an All-American rating from the NSPA, which was the highest score received yet. Next came the tearful nominations from the NSPA and Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for the Pacemaker and Crown awards, respectively.

We traveled to New York City in high, confident spirits, ready to fly back with a Gold Crown. After all, with a Pacemaker nod under our belts, we were sure to grab the gold, right? But with the devastating crush of two simple words, “Silver Crown,” we were disheartened.

At that point, the staff faced a choice. The first option, to moan and complain about second place, bashing CSPA and giving in on the rest of competition season, with the pessimistic idea that there was no point in even trying anymore. The alternate choice was to keep our heads up and try harder than ever to win back the honor we sought for so long.

Feather members, by choosing to take the second route, we became the winningest staff that The Feather has seen yet. We are the first to claim an All-American rating, Crown Award and Pacemaker in the same school year. We have seen both disappointment and triumph this year, but the end result is surely a good one. I am thrilled that Nick Avery and I had the chance to hold the Editor-in-Chief position with this year’s staff behind us.

We have seen some great Editors-in-Chief come and go on The Feather over the years. From 2004-2005 I watched my sister, ’05 alumna Anne Hierholzer fill the role. That prestigious role has been something I’ve always coveted and aimed for. Entering high school, myself, it was my turn to contribute to the paper. I bugged Stobbe from that first year about who would be the Editor-in-Chief my senior year.

It wasn’t until my junior year as the reviews editor that I began to get an idea of just how demanding that job is. Behind ’11 alumnus Austin Ward, we did everything we could to lighten his load, but talking with him about The Feather, he assured me that it was a whole different level of stress, and that I would not understand it until I was an Editor-in-Chief, myself.

If you know Austin Ward, then you know he’s brilliant. Take a second and imagine filling the shoes of a National Merit Scholar, candidate for the United States Presidential Scholars Program and California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Seymour Award winner. I literally could not see how it was possible to get anywhere close to what he achieved on The Feather.

But after he trained Nick and me, and provided me with encouragement, confidence and reassurance, we discovered that the job wasn’t to pass up Austin, but rather to lead The Feather in our own way. We hope that we achieved this, and made as positive of an impression on the staff as Austin made for us.

We cannot take credit for The Feather’s success this year, though. This is, without a doubt, a group effort. Without the writers’ articles, we have nothing to run. Without the photographers’ pictures, we can’t run the article. Without the videographers’ videos, the articles are not complete, and we’re stuck in the old days. Without the editors, we are left with an endless pile of work to trudge through.

I can’t say it enough: thank you, all. You have been a staff willing to take on challenges and push the boundaries of high school journalism. You met our expectations, impressed us, responded to us and proved yourselves capable of great things. If you have any doubts, take a look at that new award sitting in the computer lab.

The Feather has been a passion of mine for years. I can only do so much, and cross my fingers that other students will buy into the vision too. I am incredibly lucky to have been a part of this staff, and I hope that the journalism enthusiasm only grows in years to come. Thank you for working at my side to fulfill the staff’s dreams and goals.

I could truly use up pages and pages thanking each staff member for their individual developments and breakthroughs — everybody had them and should be proud. But I will now take my leave and pray for those who decide to stick with The Feather in years to come. It is worth the work, and I hope that this season of journalism has been worth your time, too. I am honored to say that I have worked with you all.

Thank you!

For more letter, read the March 18 article LETTER: Feather a championship team.