We, Brady Johnson and Olivia Doak, look forward to taking on the role of co-editors-in-chief of the Observer for the 2020-2021 school year.
Right now we’re all stuck in the middle of a global pandemic. Nobody knows what the upcoming year will bring. Yet, even now, the Augustana community stands together in the face of uncertainty. We see many of you helping your peers and even professors navigate our online connections. No one wants to attend class in a Zoom call, but we’re adapting to help our neighbors. Adapting can be hard for many of us, but the compassion we see in the community keeps us moving forward. The country is mourning, we’re mourning, but it is acts of humanity between us that will inevitably cure this virus. 
This pandemic presents new challenges to journalists everywhere, and we, as your new editors, embrace the difficulties of reporting in the unique conditions that COVID-19 presents. We will be flexible and determined, ready to adapt to the conditions as they are presented. But no matter what happens, the Observer will continue to seek the truth and report on issues that matter to you. Know that we will be here to serve you, the Augustana community, no matter what the fall brings. 
Despite all the uncertainty, we are extremely excited and hopeful for the future of the Observer. We look to push more in-depth reporting about Augie events, issues and community members. We also will strive to publish more works of multimedia reporting through photo, video and audio to give you more ways to interact with us. This last spring, we introduced OBScast, our weekly Observer podcast, that we are eager to expand upon in the upcoming year as a new medium for the paper. 
And as always, we will continue to tell your story and report on what matters to you.