Graduation is a season of celebration. It is the start of our transition from teenagers to adults. It is the beginning of increased freedoms and choices. During this exciting time, we would like to celebrate our four graduating members and share what they think about graduation and being a PVLSE member.
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Ashlyn P, Co-editor
It’s a bit hard to believe that I’m a senior now, where did all the time fly by? Did I just accidentally fall asleep too long and now I’m done with school?
Now being a leaving senior, it’s fun recalling back over my high school experience and my experience with The PVLSE. I’m extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to work with the amazing team members who hold such vast talent and for the opportunities I had in being involved in PVLSE’s many magazine publications. Graduating isn’t all that sad for me, if anything I’m excited to start fresh again and see how things go!
Asteria X, Executive Visual Editor
Seeing The PVLSE thrive so vitally like a pulse, an irreplaceable sense of satisfaction now replaces the concerns I had when the magazine was first created. This project is the brainchild of our group—a community bonded by passion—and it is growing faster and more stable than I anticipated.
Eric J, Executive Content Editor
I remember last year when we had a special section for the graduating seniors, but this year they’re us.
I’m honored to have the chance to create, develop, and witness the first year of The PVLSE and share the many good memories with you all. In our first-ever meeting in January 2022 I remember it was just four or five passionate high schoolers wanting to make a magazine. We said to get our first issue in by April. We thought that’s not gonna happen, many times in the process, but that happened, and we grew larger. Seeing struggles from having no submissions to an overflow of work that exceeded our editing capacity, we continued to build upon the basis that we settled. Having editors from cities other than Shanghai, going into conferences to gain publicity for the magazine, operating as well in platforms other than WeChat, and reading talents from outside the country, each and every step we participated in the growth of the magazine and we got you here, our most faithful readers. Now, I am one of you.
Time flies and it is now my graduation and my withdrawal from the frontline to experience this magazine as how you’ve been experiencing it. I’ve been telling myself and I am here to tell you that this place might be where we coincide, but would never be where we part ways. Just like what I wrote in one of the published articles, now it’s time for me to say “a toast, and off we go.”
Zoe T, Editor in Chief
When I joined The PVLSE, I expected to meet colleagues; I didn’t expect to meet friends. During my time here, I’ve truly gotten to know the whole team better. Thank you, all of you, for not just being editors, writers, and artists, but for also being people.
For those of you who have supported this from the start:
Thank you Ashlyn, for your exuberant energy and silly jokes! I will always be down for more ranting about our grievances with the IBO! Thank you Kat, for your endless supply of clever ideas! You’re always on the lookout for more opportunities, and you’re so talented—I know you’ll go far! Thank you Asteria, for your gorgeous art and uniquely dark yet charming sense of humor. I will never forget how you helped me to be a little less of a boomer by teaching me about Xiahongshu.
And of course, thank you Eric, for being literally the most responsible person I’ve ever met and the best co-leader I could imagine. Keep on doing what you love and believe in yourself!
For those of you who have joined us along the way:Thank you James, for your passion, friendliness, and determination to contribute despite being so far away from us in Beijing. Thank you Destiny, for your unimaginable dedication and beautiful paintings. I know you will always be an unwavering, stable boulder for the team—someone we can always lean on and count on.Thank you Momoka, for your responsible note-taking and your patience during all online meetings! Thank you Jessica, for your understanding and for giving it your all whenever you can! I can tell this magazine means a lot to both of you, and I find it safe in your hands. I know you will find lots of fun and fortune as you continue leading and building upon our mission.
For those of you who have been our guiding mentors:
Thank you Dr. Thorpe, for not turning off your laptop in disgust during (what probably was) an agonizing three-hour online interview. I’ll always remember how you made every effort to help me and Eric, even when we harassed you late at night.
Last but not least, thank you Patti, for being kind yet firm, for knowing when we needed a break, and for being the vision for this project. You have always made sure that we were a community and not just a collective. For that, you will never cease to inspire.
It’s time for me to say goodbye to you now, but I’m not sad. I know in the future, the magazine will continue to grow and complete wonderful things. Because of all of you, we will carry on showing the world what it means to believe, to breathe, to see, to fight, to light, to write, and to be a pulse of energy.
Dr. Thorpe