Ella Goodbye Letter

I wrote my first Voices article in sophomore year recapping the girls’ soccer season. It was a relatively light article, as were the rest of  the articles I wrote that year: senior spotlights, articles about other teams at Masterman, etc. Then, in the summer before my junior year, the principal circulated a new dress code. I was shocked by the restrictions, which disproportionately targeted misogyny-affected students. It was upsetting to see Masterman enact a policy that advanced such a blatantly sexist tradition. I decided to harness my anger and write a letter of protest to the administration outlining the dress code’s discriminatory nature. In just a few hours, over two-hundred students had signed it. After receiving no response for two months, Gavriela and I signed up to write an article about the new dress code for the first issue of Voices that year. As we worked on it, we hit a few bumps in the road, namely the constant warnings to watch what we wrote to ensure that we didn’t get censored. For the majority of junior year, it felt like Voices was controlled by the fear of displeasing administration. It was frustrating.

I wish I could say that we no longer have to run our articles through administration, and that we can write and publish what we would like. I can’t say that, and I likely cannot write here most of my thoughts about the censorship that Voices is subject to. However, I can say what I’ve learned from attempting to advocate for student voices. I have learned that the Masterman community is made up of people fighting for all of the things they believe in. Running Voices has shown me the creativity, intelligence, and passion of the Masterman student body, and has taught me to value the voice of every person in our school. Above all, it has given me hope in our community, and for that I am forever grateful. 

I want to thank Gavriela and Natalia for being the best co-editor-in-chiefs anyone could ask for, our section editors this year for working tirelessly to polish articles and make Voices the best it can be, and Mr. Olson and Mr. Gilken for providing the faculty and administrative support we needed throughout the year. Jocelyn and Mariacristina, I cannot wait to see how you continue to make Voices better each day. Mostly, I want to thank all of our writers—without your voices, there would be no Voices. Keep writing and, remember, your voice always deserves to be heard.