As we mentioned last week, Monday, Sept. 28, was World News Day, and, among other things, it was a day to celebrate and focus on the fact that journalism, especially local journalism, is a vital part of our civic infrastructure.
Trusted local journalism is important, and it is the presence of trusted journalism across our nation, both at the local and national level, that helps us maintain democracy.
On the heels of that, we’d like to offer our annual thank you for trusting us to bring you information about the news, happenings, events and people of Archuleta County.
This issue begins a new chapter for us at of The SUN as we roll into Volume 119. That means another year of bringing our community news and entertainment is in the books.
And what a year it’s been. The last year has brought historic flooding, historic fires, historic anniversaries, good news, heartbreaking news, maddening news, news that gives us hope, news related to the governments and organizations that lead our community, and a whole lot of events and personalities.
We can only imagine what our next 52 issues will hold.
And we can’t wait to continue to bring it to you.
Every day in this job we connect with this community’s past, present and future, which is a unique blessing. Looking back helps us learn from our successes and our mistakes and to see how history repeats itself (this week’s “Legacies” is a great example); taking in the happenings as they happen shows us where we are, what we’re accomplishing and where we need to improve; and looking ahead to future meetings, events and opportunities serves as a reminder that we’ve not only come a long way, but there are a lot of people who care about this community and are working to make it more successful, healthier and a little more fun.
Connecting with the past, present and future also helps us remember that all of us here are simply stewards of something bigger.
The SUN — and, more importantly, our community’s past, present and future — is something bigger than each of us.
We’re just grateful to be a part of it.
The SUN has been around since 1909, and it’s our job to continue the commitments we’ve made to our readers and advertisers to ensure we pass a vibrant SUN along in the future.
We do it for you, and we couldn’t do it without you.
Thank you for contributing columns, letters to the editor, press releases, photos, ideas, frustrations, birth announcements, celebrations, obituaries of your loved ones and more.
If you’re interested in sharing with us, visit https://www.pagosasun.com/editorial-guidelines-and-deadlines/ or email editor@pagosasun.com.
We love the stories we get to hear, the people we get to meet, the connections we might have never made without serving in this role.
We love that so many of you make a point to stop in our office every Thursday morning, no matter the weather, to pick up your copy of The SUN or grab an extra PREVIEW so everyone in the house can do the puzzles. We love the conversations we get to have and the stories we hear as we meet new people each and every week.
We also love that we get to work with local students to help increase media literacy.
In 2021, The SUN began partnering with area schools for our Newspapers in Education program, and we are pleased to continue to do so. Through the program, students at multiple local schools receive copies of the newspaper each week.
Research shows that newspapers as a teaching tool offer myriad benefits.
Among other things, the program seeks to help students gain a better understanding of local government, links real-world experience to the classroom and encourages critical thinking.
Beyond that, we are also very happy to be a part of education surrounding media literacy, which continues to prove to be a critical skill in our world, especially with the continued evolution of AI.
We also know that local journalism is incredibly important and will continue to be important as these students grow and become community leaders themselves. Local journalism is what keeps our community informed and connected, day after day, and is vital to a healthy democracy.
We hope to, in our small way, help ensure democracy prevails.
Randi Pierce
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