The last three weeks have been groundbreaking here at The Central Trend. With new records, new writers, new series, and so much more, combined efforts from incoming writers, veteran writers, and the Sports Report have culminated into a truly unprecedented period. Prolonged, groundbreaking, and exhilarating are a few words that immediately come to mind when describing the latest chapter of our journey.

Arguably the biggest change that recently took place was the addition of writers from Writing for Publication (WFP), the journalism intro class, into our permanent staff. Perhaps you noticed Amanda’s heartfelt columns, Meredith’s in-depth profiles, or Jordan’s detailed reviews adding to our daily posts. With over a dozen new writers added to our staff page, the biggest improvement has been a set of fresh perspectives to add both content and input.

Going into the future, our staff is excited to post up to ten stories a day– an eclectic mix of reviews, editorials, columns, features, and student personality profiles each day. We were extremely excited to welcome WFP, and this year’s class was exceptionally talented and dedicated. While a drastic change, the tripling of our staff size substantially impacted the atmosphere of our classroom and the success of our website.

Additionally, we’ve seen the incorporation of several new series, notably the Sports Report’s Top 5 polls and TCT’s The Countless Thanks editions. The Countless Thanks is an annual series we began last year celebrating numerous individuals, each deserving recognition, that walk our halls. As each writer submits new editions of it each day, it’s exciting to see gratitude spread throughout the school.

The other new series, Top 5 polls, have been invaluable to our recent success. A new idea brought to us by Sports Editor in Chief Molly Donovan, its unique format and emphasis on engaging with the community has rendered it a series that will be continued for seasons and years to come.

As a result of the influx of content and introduction of different series, we’ve been proud and exhilarated to see our view rates soar. Due largely in part to the Sports Report, lately, our daily audience has been unprecedented, with over 12,000 views in the last ten school days alone. In fact, we are already a third of way to reaching our year-end goal of 150,000 views; needless to say, we’ve never been more motivated.

It’s been an incredible three weeks in Room 139, and this success has only pushed us to keep striving further. Seeing the fruits of our work tangibly take form, in the shape of increasing view curves and upward trends, is the most rewarding return. As three previously distinct groups slowly merge into one, we hope to see many more record-setting days in the future.