Hey Spartans, I’m Max Knight, your 2023-2024 Opinions editor here at Sword and Shield. Happy January and 2024! I hope everyone’s had an incredible winter break and holiday season, and has taken their time off to rest and reset their brain after a long first semester. This is my first editor’s note since joining the paper, in the spirit of starting the new year with something new. To power through the January slump post-break, I suggest you try the same! Even if you’re disillusioned with New Year’s Resolutions, trying something new, whether that be joining a club, trying a sport, or adopting a new hobby, can be so helpful to getting through the slump of the winter months. 

This month, we have a host of new articles to usher in the new year. Winter sports are continuing, so make sure to keep on showing up for your fellow classmates. This month, we have articles about College Playoffs in our Sports section, First Semester class reviews in Opinions, while Arts and Entertainment is here to keep you updated on Art staff here at Memorial and everything movies as 2023 has come to a close. News articles are out keeping you up on world events, big and small, while Student Life is here to make sure you know everything you need to be prepared for Demonstrations of Learning at the end of the month. 

First semester may be half over, but the rest of the school year still awaits. Let’s start the second semester strong! If you want to be a part of keeping Sword & Shield great going into the second semester, we meet every Monday in the Photo Lab (or just join our Google Classroom, code: awjii5f).