Written By Ruby Van Dyk, an FGHS Senior and The Editor of The Advocate. This is her last contribution. 

Dear Reader,

I started this paper with an idea and a dream. The idea? Create a newspaper. The dream? Democratize student’s voice. A

So I started with no funding. No resources. Nothing.

But the thing is, and what I’ve learned over my years here at Forest Grove high is that the people here, are your biggest resource.

The amount of wonderful, intelligent, interesting human beings who are more than willing to help you in this building is immeasurable.

So it was with the help of people like Ms. Dawn Nelson, our beloved English teacher who said “yeah Ruby let’s do it!!” when I brought up the idea of forming a newspaper, and our principal Mrs. O’Neill who said “we’ll find you some funding” that this paper got off the ground.

Now more than a year later we have published over 12 online issues, a printed issue, attended journalism conferences and  helped impact the culture of our school.

Our beloved, dedicated, funny staff have made this paper what it is, and have written about anything and everything. This paper would be nothing without them.

This is a lot of rambling, but my point is that I am so proud. So proud of our school for taking a chance, so proud of our staff and my fellow students for working so hard on this paper, and so proud of what we’ve done.

I am going to miss The Advocate more than anything. The people, the ideas, the late night editing, and most of all this feeling that we’re all a part of something a little bigger than ourselves. The Advocate has been the complete highlight of my high school career, and I want to thank you all for that.

So write on. Continue to investigate and highlight what needs to be shown, and more than anything continue to Advocate.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

Ruby Van Dyk

Editor in Chief