As we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of holiday festivities, good food, and football, it can be easy to forget the true meaning of Thanksgiving: a celebration of gratitude for our family, friends, and God. We are so incredibly thankful for the clay community and the creativity and collaboration it brings. Thank you to all you readers for faithfully following our articles each week–clay truly would not exist without you and your support.
To Andrew, Cara, Dianna, Gabrielle, Isabel, Kate Maia, Misa, and Nathanael:
Thank you for your dedication, enthusiasm, and hard work as editors. You all are truly the backbone of clay, and we really appreciate everything you do to keep clay running smoothly.
To the News team:
Elva — as my most reliable columnist, I can always count on you to turn things in early! Your articles are so polished they rarely need my editing, and I always learn something!
Liam — you’re an outstanding and tactful communicator, and it is a joy to work with you. The fact that we had to dumb down your last article before publishing says something about your level of expertise in the field!
Luke, I have no idea how you find all the sources you use, and the way you incorporate them into your articles is *chef’s kiss* flawless! You seem to have a strong passion for the issues you’re writing about!
Sasha — I’ve enjoyed seeing your writing improve so far, and I can’t wait to see where it is by the end of the year! Your style is engaging and honest without trying too hard…it’s a pleasure to edit!
Elise — Last but not least, the talented Elise! I can’t think of a time when I haven’t learned something new from your articles, and they’re easy to read! Before I became an editor, I always looked forward to your articles, and I’m sure lots of other TPSers do too!
~Kate Martin, News Editor
To the Humor team:
Ian, Sabina, Adam, Samantha, and Cary,
I am so thankful to have such a wonderful team of funny people that I simply could not express it in complete sentences. Here is an acrostic poem instead:
Hilarious
Unique
Masterful
Out-of-this-world
Receptive
Your dictator editor, Cara Pisani
To the Spotlight team:
Hi Erika! Thanks for being such an encouraging and positive person! I love your style of interviewing people and your well-crafted articles are always enjoyable to read!
Hi Joshua! Thanks for being such a fun writer to work with! I love your unique creativity and excitement in your articles!
Hi Katie! Thanks for being such an entertaining author! Your stories are always funny and I look forward to seeing what exciting tales you’re bringing to clay every month!
Hi Anise! Thanks for being such a hard worker and dedicated writer! It’s been such a pleasure watching you learn and grow, and I can’t wait to see what you do next!
Hi Grace! Thanks for being such a diligent writer! You are great at solving problems and I love how your articles are always eloquently and meticulously written!
~Gabrielle Barnett, Spotlight Editor
To the Theology & Worldview Team:
Hey Theology and Worldview! You guys all clearly have a great amount of passion for writing, and I can really learn from all of your articles because of that. It doesn’t matter if I’m editing one of Janae’s highly logical apologetics articles, an encouraging and edifying spotlight article from Amaya, a deeply intriguing and informative missions column from Caroline, or one of Hadleigh’s well-researched and articulate church history articles, I always fall in love with what y’all send me! Thanks for helping make my senior year my favorite year in high school and thanks for making my job easy with y’all’s great writing!
~Andrew Sayuk, Theology & Worldview Editor
To the PR Team:
Wow, where do I even begin? Since day one, I’ve been blown away with all your fantastic talents and creativity, from the beautiful photos and graphic designs to the funny captions and stories.You are all so proactive and enthusiastic about what you do and you never hesitate to pitch in to help out others on the team. I want y’all to know that I am so thankful to have each and every one of you on the team this year, and I truly appreciate all of your hard work! Thank you for all that you do!
~Isabel Yang, PR Manager
To the Arts & Culture Team:
Iris, Isabel, Ella, Joie, and Charlie — thank you all for your hard work in writing your articles these past few months. You’ve consistently had such creative topics, and they’re always well-written and interesting to read. It’s been wonderful to work with each of you, and I’m excited to see what the rest of the year brings!
~Misa Stanton, Arts & Culture Editor
Holly — your monthly articles are a joy for me to read, and each of the topics that you’ve done so far have been refreshing and insightful! As a logophile myself, I especially enjoyed your article on archaic words. It doth behoove me to thank ‘ee for thy, uh, service! I should really stop here.
Hope — the pictures say it all: you’re a wonderful chef—not to mention a talented photographer (those quesadillas are Shutterstock level)! Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into your recipes. I wish that, along with editing your article drafts, I’d get the chance to actually taste-test your food!!
Christine — you’re such a fantastic writer, and I’m always impressed by your book selection on weighty stuff like the Revolutionary War and such. The quality of your summaries and analyses are consistently top drawer, and clay is so lucky to have you! Thank you for providing riveting and moving articles that entertain as much as they do inform.
Sophia — musicals and theater are amazing—and so are your articles! I love the simplicity of your style, and the variety of musicals that you choose. The messages that you convey—the one on Anastasia remains especially clear in my mind—are always so meaningful and make us all want to listen to the soundtracks. Thank you for putting your heart into each article that you write.
Emma — I’m not gonna lie—your topics are quite unusual and never fail to raise eyebrows. But more than just unusual, they’re absolutely fascinating! The language and style that you use are as beautiful as the accompanying graphics, and your articles are an absolute delight to read. Thank you for tackling “unusual” topics with such poise and for sharing such extraordinary pieces that we never otherwise would’ve known!
~Nathanael Choi, Arts & Culture Editor
Bronwyn — it has been so much fun watching your serial-story unfold, and seeing you use your wonderful writing skills to draw in your audience, be it with creative plot-twists or Latin-speaking characters.
Emma — you have an exceptional talent for poetry, from describing it to your readers to creating your own. You always manage to come up with unique and clever ideas in which to discuss poetry and intrigue your audience. It has been great reading your articles and learning about poetry in the meantime!
Laura — you have an amazing art skill-set and it has been a pleasure helping you use your talents to share with the TPS community. Your articles are always full of great advice while still having your personal touch of humour, and, of course, the addition of your own work.
Rees — your maze column has brought a special nuance to the Arts and Culture section, and you have done a great job with your articles combining your humour and writing talents with your knowledge of mazes.
Shiloh — your articles are always full of useful yet unique fashion tips and tricks. You manage to incorporate a fun, personable tone into your writing while providing your readers with brand new advice each month.
Great work during these past months, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with during the rest of the season!
~Maia Gaskovski, Arts & Culture Editor
To Mr. Gilbert and TPS Support:
We’re so incredibly thankful for your guidance, patience, and willingness to help with clay. Thank you for everything that you do.
We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and a refreshing break!
Mari Stanton and Julia Holmgren
2021-2022 Senior Editors
Image Credit: dribbble.com