The week before spring break — typically halfway through second semester — is usually a much-needed relief for students feeling a little burnt out. But for students at The Daily Illini, the week before spring break signifies the bittersweet end of a year’s hard work, successes and challenges.

On Friday, our editorial staff “turns over,” meaning all of our executive editors and most of our desk editors will be replaced with fresh faces. As such, our editorial board will be losing the majority of its members from the past year.

And so, as we come to the end of our time here, we want to say thank you. Thank you to our readers and fellow students for sticking with us when times were tough, celebrating with us when we did well and voting for the Media Fee to ensure students like us have the same opportunities for years to come.

Though we hope The Daily Illini serves as the campus community’s go-to news source, the 145-year-old newspaper means a lot more than that to its staff.

In a newsroom full of (mostly) journalism majors, it’s no surprise that we love the College of Media. But there are some things that can’t be learned in a classroom. At The Daily Illini, we’ve learned how to work with other people, try new things and lead by example. We’ve spent the year learning how to exercise good news judgement, fix our mistakes and that you can in fact never play too much Elton John.

There are few places where students can have the same experiences and receive the same opportunities as we do at The Daily Illini. Working for an independent newspaper at such an excellent school is rarer than it might seem.

It has been quite the year for the members of this editorial board. We covered Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to campus, the resignations of the University’s chancellor and provost, the firings of two football coaches and the athletic director, the hiring of an athletic director and football coach, and a visit from presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — just to name a few.

We have complete control over what we write and publish, which has allowed us to report freely on a slew of University scandals and issues. Ironically, we’re thankful to the University for that.

And though it may have seemed small to you — maybe you didn’t even realize you clicked “yes” — winning the student recommendation to renew the Media Fee meant a lot to the Illini Media Company. With the Media Fee, we will be able to continue printing two newspapers per week, publishing breaking news on our website and learning more about the careers we hope to pursue once we leave here.

Thank you for reading and supporting our work through thick and thin. We have no doubt that the students filling our shoes will serve you well.