Dear Reader,

Holding the title of “Editor-in-Chief of The KAIST Herald” for a full year was completely unforeseen when I entered university. The first time I heard about the English newspaper at KAIST was no more than what it reads: There’s an English newspaper at KAIST. I thought, all right, might as well check it out. I fast-forwarded through the recording of the then-online Open Clubroom event, wrote my application article (at which point I took a look at the prompts and reconsidered for a second whether I should really apply), and went through the interview stage — and even at that point I didn’t know exactly what to expect from the club. In my first year in Herald, I don’t think I was particularly more outgoing or committed to Herald activities — especially with the excuse of COVID-19 and the comforts of my dorm room — which was why I was taken aback when I was offered the Editor position. 

I often feel that there’s a significant discrepancy between how I view myself and how others seem to view me. I never considered myself an exceptional writer; each month I was awed by the peer-editing comments I received on my articles, and even now, looking through the letters of previous Editors for inspiration, I envy their voices that emanate through the page. Nor did I consider myself an exceptional leader who could coordinate all activities of a more-than-20-member club; my voice isn’t loud enough, my gestures too timid, and my thoughts irresolute. But I suppose others saw traits in me that made them believe I was “good enough”.

In retrospect, I think I wanted to live up to those blurry expectations. Convince myself that I do make a good leader for the newspaper, that I deserve the “oohs” when I tell people I’m the Editor of KAIST’s English newspaper. Reading through all of the Letters I have written in the past seven issues, I begin to think that they were more for me than for you Readers. My first letter about my responsibilities to the newspaper and to our readers was a pledge to myself to shake off my apprehensions and try my hardest. My December letter was prompted by a tired rant about the difficulties of having to edit around 30 articles and prepare for a publication the week before final exams. My letter just a month ago about influences was a last reminder to myself to make each article count. This leads me to ponder on how well I have fulfilled my responsibilities throughout the year.

I wish my letters had been more insightful and filled with interesting anecdotes (I’d like to apologize to you, dear Reader, if it hasn’t been too interesting to read). Even though I know that a lack of time has constantly been a struggle, I wonder if I could have allocated more time to really scrutinize each and every article that we have published. Once I recall all the aspirations I had starting my term, I can think of aspects — variety of topics, social media events, reader participation in the Herald publication — that have not been realized fully. All this being said, I think you can see pretty clearly that the end of my term leaves a trail of regrets. Nevertheless, I can confidently say that these past four semesters as Assistant Editor and Editor-in-Chief have been an invaluable experience. Through each editing weekend, I have been exposed to a myriad of opinions on societal and international issues, KAIST events and cultural reviews that I would never have been able to discover nor contemplate on my own. Not to mention the amount of interactions and self-reflection that have truly transformed me into the person I am now. And moreover, I am happy to be able to say that this June publication, which marks the end of my editorship, is one I am most proud of. 

At the end of it all, I don’t expect a lot. If just a few of our articles have captured your attention, informed you of something new, or sparked a discussion, I would consider my year a success. Closing off, all I hope is that you will continue to take a glimpse at The KAIST Herald from time to time, for this is the reason we continue to write and share.

Looking forward to returning as a normal reporter,

Hae-Rim Kim

Editor-in-Chief