As we have for three years now, the Becket Beat staff met in January to review the year prior and brainstorm about changes we want to see in 2025. While we had a long list of accomplishments from 2024, the overall gist is that we feel we are accomplishing our mission of building community and being your source of news for all things Becket. Likewise, our list of goals was extensive, but we focused on our top three priorities: succession planning for staff so we can be sustainable for the long term, finding more writers—both on-staff and outside contributors, and developing a Kids’ Corner, which you will find in this issue. As usual much of our conversation focused on representing as many voices as possible; hence the Kids’ Corner. In addition we will be reaching out to a cross section of readers to give us feedback on the current issue of the month and topics for the future. We hope these changes will help bring the Becket Beat to the next level as we strive to keep improving while remaining true to our mission.
One of our goals established in 2023 was to bring on High School interns to write for the paper. In this issue you will hear from Addy Reddington, a freshman at Wahconah Regional High School. Addy is interested in all aspects of journalism, including writing and photography. For this issue her reporting focused on a recent change regarding standardized testing (MCAS) in Massachusetts schools. Thank you so much, Addy, for your valuable contribution!
In our overarching goal of building community, we will once again sponsor Community Day along with Canterbury Farms on Saturday, March 8th, from 10am to 3pm. Look for more details in the announcement on page eight.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement. We look forward to continuing to co-create this publication with you in 2025 and, as always, welcome and rely on your feedback.
