As another school year comes to a close, The Perennial is looking forward to starting the next year strong. With a new editorial staff rising into leadership, the 2025-26 team brings a mix of experience and new ideas.
Leading The Perennial will be incoming Editors-in-Chief, sophomore Kaitlyn Maier and junior Mailey Wang. The two are returning staff members who pride themselves on being detail-oriented, driven, and creative. Maier served as a News editor and is focused on the details of writers’ articles and bringing out writers’ full potential.
“I think that when you’re editing, you really need to pay attention to the details,” Maier said. “It’s also important to note that sometimes you might give a comment to a writer that isn’t necessarily what they wanted or the direction they wanted their article to go.”
Wang is known for her dedication to the program and passion for being a journalist. From being a Sports editor, she has gained the experience and knowledge to extend The Perennial’s reach even further throughout Pinewood.
“I love everything about journalism at Pinewood, so I wanted to be in a position to lead it,” Wang said. “I am so excited to be able to help new writers and guide them to find a passion for journalism as strong as my own.”
Together, the new editors-in-chief hope to create a program where writers of all levels can collaborate, take ownership, and dig deeper into stories.
Their leadership follows in the footsteps of seniors Jolyn Ding and Prisha Mohapatra, who helped guide The Perennial through a year full of exciting changes. Ding describes her past year as Editor-in-Chief as extremely gratifying.
“I think the most rewarding thing is also seeing that growth from everybody, not just in my section, but across the paper as well,” Ding said.
The new section editors are just as motivated to take the lead. Junior Dhruv Gupta and sophomore Alisha Ramani will head The Perennial’s News section, which covers important events on campus. Sophomore Claire Wu is the new Features Editor, junior Jake Reynders is the new Sports editor, junior Addison Parenti is the new Opinion editor, junior Esha Joshi is the new Arts and Culture editor, junior Braxton Kimura is the new Science and Tech editor, and junior Lara Parikh is the new Editorial Manager. Sophomores Tiffany Au and Kayden Ge will also join the editorial staff as copy editors.
Kimura is eager to take on the new challenges of being an editor, such as going to layout and helping writers produce quality work.
“Stepping into an editor position feels like the natural next step for me; to not only keep writing, but to help others find their voice, too,” Kimura said.
For the visual department of the editorial staff, juniors Billy Lloyd and Avery Hall will take charge, while sophomore Elizabeth Liang returns as The Perennial’s Illustration Manager. Finally, junior Riya Kolappa will be spearheading a new position focused on the newspaper’s website and social media outreach.
With the mentorship of advisers Sam Jezak and Kim Wetzel, the editors hope to invest more time and effort into training the new writers to write the best articles they possibly can.
“I wish to keep The Perennial a very diverse publication because we have so many different sections,” Maier said. “We have so many different writers with different levels of experience and different interests.”
