Five school years ago, in its first year of creation, The Central Trend amassed just over one thousand site visits.

In the 2015-16 school year, views skyrocketed to over 48,000, an incredibly impressive growth rate in a single year.

Over the duration of its third year, nearly 78,000 visits to the site were made as a stride began to be attained.

In its fourth year, a breakthrough was reached as TCT was revamped and permanent changes were made for the better. In this year, we smashed our goal of 100,000 views, expanding everyone’s idea of what this publication could be.

And here we are. In its fifth year running, The Central Trend is on track to reach our goal of one hundred and fifty thousand site views in a single school year. It’s 150x as many views as we received in our inaugural year, but that just shows how far we have come.

Individually, over 607,000 stories have been clicked on this school year. 600,000 times, someone in the area or beyond has cared enough to make a visit to TCT and spend time reading what we put out. Six hundred thousand. The enormity of that number still continues to amaze me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around it.

TCT has morphed into a community hub, with something for everyone in the greater community within our bounds. I’ve relished the way we’ve stepped outside of our previous constraints, expanding the idea of what a “school” newspaper can be, while still staying true to our FHC roots.

I’ve said it countless times before, but the content behind our site doesn’t lie behind the words, photos, or even the stories. All of our success is masked behind the people who are a part of this.

Fifteen. There are fifteen writers on The Central Trend’s staff. Neither age, interests, nor length of time on staff plays a role because when it comes down to it, we’re all there for the same reason. Believe me when I say that each and every one of them provide a different role, both in terms of productivity and personality.

Ten. There are ten Sports Reporters that call the TCT room a home as much as we do. We may bicker and mirror a brother-sister relationship with them, but at the end of the day, we wouldn’t be here without them. And of course, this half of our family is led by Molly Donovan, who is truly one-of-a-kind– the type of leader and friend that you won’t come across again in the same lifetime.

Three. As the three Editors in Chiefs this year, Susannah, Reena, and I have been beyond blessed with the magnificently talented staff we’ve been gifted. It’s something we often discuss on our weekly excursions, just how lucky we were with the opportunity we were given to lead the people we do. It’s the other fifteen writers in the room that provide the needed drive, put in an incredible amount of effort, and channel the same passion we do. 

We find our success in these numbers, but we credit this success to these extraordinary people.