Because I am the Online Editor-in-Chief, it would be the coolest thing for me to say that MHSMentor.com is my website. I would love to walk around knowing that I am now the keeper of everything that happens within the walls of this school because I would feel the greatest sense of power and pride. I could change everything with just the press of a button because everything is at my command. At least, that’s what I would like to think my job allows me to do.

The thing about MHSMentor.com is that it is not my website. I may be the keeper of everything, but it’s not my everything to keep. In essence, I do have power and I do have pride, but only over myself and my work, not the entire website. Nothing is entirely at my command and all of our publications staff is better off for it.

If the website isn’t mine, then whose is it? You may ask. The answer to your question is simple: it’s yours. Every story belongs to you, every picture is of you, every video is for your ears and eyes. Our content is not for ourselves to read, look at or watch. If that were the case, there would be no point to the jobs that we have on student publications.

Therefore, I do not own the website and it’s not mine to control. I just maintain it. I don’t choose what does or doesn’t go on it, who can look at it or who cannot. What I do is make sure that it’s updated with the most recent content and that when you click on a certain page, it shows you something that looks well-designed and put together. 

I put in the hours to maintain this website because if I didn’t, your stories wouldn’t be told with color, with sounds, with spirit or with ease. Yes, they would still be in the print edition of The Mentor, but MHSMentor.com is the best way to showcase the journalism we practice; it is the only place where your photo is in color, where your video is full of sound and live-action storytelling is timelier than any other content we produce.

I can’t blame you for not always wanting a physical piece of paper that documents who you are and what you’ve done. When you take pride in what you do, of course you’d want the best version of that story to be yours.

I have power and pride over what I write, but only you can have power and pride over your story. It’s yours to tell, after all. If you trust us to show everyone your power and your pride, then this will be the best version of the website possible.

As I said, the website is not mine and whether it’s great or not is not up to me alone. Only you can inspire a story to be written, a photo to be taken or a video to be filmed. They are your stories. MHSMentor can only be great if you trust us to tell them.