You know what they say, nothing good lasts forever. This statement reigns true at Elder High School. No matter who you ask within the Elder community, The Purple Quill has affected them in one way or another. Whether you’re the casual reader or even a featured person in the paper, the impact the paper leaves you with is immense. That emotional connection is something that writers for The Quill feel on a whole other level.

David Heisel is a second semester senior at Elder who took journalism last quarter and wrote for The Quill. David has fond memories of the afternoons spent in Mr. Rogers journalism class.

“I enjoyed being able to express my ideas and myself to the student body.” David wrote timeless pieces such as “24,000 steps for one great cause” and “Panthers bring home the hardware.” You can see an expression of one’s self within their writer and the same holds true for David. David now has a study hall for his 7th period instead of Journalism. Some students might call this a lazy or cheap move but David doesn’t agree. “I enjoyed my time but being able to leave school early can’t be beat,” said Heisel. No argument there Dave.

The next senior we’ll talk about is Ryan Custer. Cust also took the class for his first semester and dropped it for a study hall. I’m starting to see a trend here.  Ryan enjoyed his time writing “for the most part. Towards the end I just had absolutely nothing to write about.”  Ryan blessed us with masterpieces such as “The Westside’s team” and his personal favorite “Panthers bring home the hardware.” Odd that both of the staff’s basketball players favorite article was the one they wrote together about the team. Custer said, “I’ll never forget the time I beat the s*** out of Dowd in wrestling.” Neither will we Cust.

Our last case of desertion comes from Joey Dowd. This one hits home a little more because Dowd like myself took Journalism both semesters junior year, and scheduled to take it both semesters this year. Joey was a solid writer who could really produce greatness when he got into his work. This shows in his favorite and infamously rejected Valentine’s day article he wrote last year. It’s a shame that the world never got to see the final product. Joey “had a bad taste from the second he walked into the class this year. I just didn’t feel the same magic and I missed former quill legends such as Billy Browning and Sam Hauer. I just wasn’t moved to write anymore, and that feeling was amplified when I realized I didn’t want to pursue journalism.”

Joey’s highlight of the class was Kraft mooning Mr. Rogers and getting kicked out of class. I personally can agree that was pretty great. Joey feels bad after “leaving on a sour note with the bracketology article.”

Whether you like Joey and the rest of the abandoners, it is obvious that they left a mark on The Quill. I miss seeing them in class but the rest of the staff and I wish them well on their future endeavors. The memories we made will never be forgotten.

I’m aware that Bryce was also lost, but hey you win some you lose some.