Firstly, thank you to every contributor to this issue! It wouldn’t have happened without you. Thank you, Guru, for trusting Mandie, Sammy, Ale and me with putting this together and for guiding us through the process. Thank you Cole, Abby, Paul and Ronni for being the best management buddies. I miss you all. 

Thank you, Under the Arch team, for making this issue possible during the realities of quarantine. And a bigger-than-big thank you and distanced hugs to Mandie, Ale and Sammy for being the most supportive co-editors! Friends, we actually did it!

To my senior friends — from WSN and otherwise — I love you and find it hard to imagine NYU without you. Thank you for taking care of my little sophomore self. With many of you, I had a chance to work in the basement of Third North, and you taught me more than an Investigating Journalism class ever could. Guru, Sara and Maxine: thank you for making this year’s Under the Arch team special. Yasmin, Katie, Natalie and Bela: thank you for making our beloved basement my second home. You’re such shining stars. Pam, thank you for the most profound impact I can’t describe under a word limit and for Under the Arch itself. I can’t wait to see the brilliant things all of you go on to create!

Yours truly,

Anna-Dmitry Muratova, Deputy Managing Editor

To my Michael Scott, Guru, thank you for supporting me through every crazy turn my life has taken. You are the only person I would ever go to the ER with on a Sunday evening. To Ale and Sammy, you have taught me that I can be creative in anything as long as put my mind to it. To Fin, my baby bean. I am forever changed because of you. You are the best friend I have always been looking for. And to Cole and Abby, what can I say? You’re stuck with me for another semester. I am inspired by your dedication to our paper and work ethic. 

Now to the class of 2020, I am all out of words, but if I may, I will write this:

I am extremely proud to have you as an example of resilience and dedication. Not only have you worked diligently throughout your time at NYU, but you have adapted to this unprecedented situation in the most creative ways possible, and for that, I thank you. You taught me that nothing can stand in the way of hardwork and achievements. I wrote this alongside my cat, Pepita. She is high-pawing you all the way from Pasadena, California.

You may not get the celebration you envisioned, but we will celebrate you in a way you never expected. It will be a congratulations for the ages, one that will be remembered in history forever. 

You are all my superheroes. 

— Mandie Montes, Under the Arch Editor

We knew that the end of the semester was coming, but we didn’t expect it so soon. Our goodbyes were crammed into a couple of days after the rushed transition to online classes. Some of us couldn’t even say goodbye. From different parts of New York, different states and different countries, you, the class of 2020, adapted to the new shift to complete your degrees as planned. There were so many moments when you felt you had no energy or motivation to keep going. But amid the crisis, you came out stronger. You made it, you graduated. As a junior who will finish her journey at NYU in the fall, I learned a lot from you, class of 2020. You’re hopeful, you’re full of dreams, you’re resilient. The horizon is still uncertain, but one thing is clear: you have set an unforgettable precedent for future graduates to fight for their dreams no matter what. 

Best wishes, 

Alejandra Arevalo, Under the Arch Deputy Editor

With the after effects of quarantine and Zoom graduation still barraging meme pages, it’s safe to say this graduating class send off has been anything but conventional. Class of 2020, your graduation might be delayed, yet this pandemic has been anything but a stain on your goodbye. You’ve shown that while thousands of miles away, you still hold onto your friendships, the inanimate objects that mark your first college adventures, your thesis projects and even the buildings that have evolved with you from the beginning of your first year at NYU. Even while out of reach, your class and its imprint on everyone who will return to campus will not be forgotten. Walk under the arch with pride when you can — we promise to not forget to warn every first year about the dangers of doing it. Thank you for all the superstitions, the advice and the lowdown on everything in between, when all I had was a welcome packet and a vague idea of what my major was going to be. No one can quite take your place.

You’re stuck in my memories,

Sammy Tavassoli, Under the Arch Deputy Editor