January Issue: Happy New Year

A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS

The year 2013 is now a time of the past. In fact, sandy beaches, alarm-clock-free mornings and multi-coloured long, shapely nails are now all things of the past as we get ready for the new academic year to begin. 

2013 hasn’t just been a momentous year for Cempaka, but also one for the Lumen Studet. The previous year saw us undertaking a major change, rerooting from our previous website to a blog version of our online newsletter. With the new dissemination channel for our journalists, designers and photographers came the opportunity for us to be capable of having instant updates and posts. So of course, we had to pull up our socks. With renewed drive again to see the Lumen Studet alive and buzzing once again, we bugged friends, classmates and students more than ever to start writing. We changed our editing process, writing formats and a whole load of other things including making sure that writers stick to the deadline (or at least don’t stray off it too much). Compared to the previous, half-dead Lumen Studet which was updated only once every six months, we for one love the change! 

We’ve also taken a leaf out of this generation’s book - if you want anything to be heard, social media’s the way to go. Our twitter account (@lumenstudet), brainchild of Jamie Kok (Editor-In-Chief 2013), has definitely succeeded in getting the Lumen out there. This was particularly evident when the article ‘To All Cempakans, From Cempakans’ was posted. With that one article, we succeeded in sending the heartfelt message the article projected across as the views went up past 1000, setting a record. Alongside it, our ‘Getting To Know You’ series, in which the schools prefects' deep, dark secrets were revealed, was a great hit generating both laughter and retweets. 

Any time you are feeling a little nostalgic and want to reminisce the year 2013, feel free to peruse the numerous articles we’ve covered here on the Lumen. From school events like expeditions and school visits to the entertainment buzz like top movie reviews, there’s an array of memories to be found in the Lumen archive. We hope that we’ve successfully preserved some, if not most of last year’s memories. Later in the year, we’ll also hopefully be flipping through pages of the 2013 yearbook; a project spearheaded by the IB students in which the YJC has collaborated in. 

But enough with the past, let's talk about 2014. With a new year comes a fresh start and a clean slate; new faces soon to become new friends, a little bit of excitement and perhaps a jolt of uncertainty as we face the slightly scary fact that we’re actually seniors. We foresee headaches, sleepless nights and days of hard work not far off in the future. Yet we also know that there'll be precious memories and moments to cherish in the days to come. So get ready for a whole load of ‘I-can’t-believe-it’s-our-last-’ tweets and albums full of ‘Class of 2014’ photos because it’s our last year and you can bet we’re going to savour every moment - the fun ones that is. 

Besides the inevitable norm though, what will the new year bring? What lies ahead? We can plan. Predict. Speculate. But the future's uncertain - and that's okay. Because while we cant exactly say what tomorrow will bring, we can do lots to point our compasses towards the brightest stars. 

With that dear readers, welcome to the Lumen Studet; where the pen is always mightier than the sword. Welcome to 2014. 

We are journalists. 

Designers. 

Photographers. 

We tell a story.

Thank you to all our readers for your support and to our writers for your invaluable contributions. 

Amanda Lee Yue Ping & Chin Wye Mun