I have to admit, when I took this job, I was nervous.

I didn’t doubt my abilities. This is the start of my fourth year as an editor of some kind on The Chart’s staff.

I can perform all the tasks necessary of an Editor-in-Chief at least adequately. I like to think I do some things even more than that, but who knows.

No, what made me most nervous about beginning my tenure in ‘the big-boy chair,’ as we lovingly refer to it, was being solely responsible for the paper in every aspect.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s an honor to be the Editor of this historic publication. But, the job comes with a lot of pressure.

People who’ve had the job are the only ones who can truly understand what I mean. I worked for three Editors-in-Chief here before taking the job.

Each had different philosophies and meshed with my personality to varied degrees, but especially now, I have a tremendous amount of respect for all three, knowing what goes into the job.

I’ve gotten used to the responsibility.

To be completely honest, I’m more energetic for this paper now than I’ve been in the 76 issues and publication weeks I’ve been around for.

I think I’ve got the hang of it, and I assure you, my staff and I work our asses off to be the best we can.

Much of the sense of settling in I describe is thanks entirely to the awesome, and I mean awesome, staff that we’ve assembled.

This time a year ago, The Chart had two Nathans and me.

That’s it.

More quickly than even we thought possible, the greater of the Nathans and I built a staff from the ground up.

Really, all we wanted to do was leave this paper better than we found it.

The last thing we wanted was for another pair of top editors to find themselves with no help, like we did.

We brought back quite a bit of talent in returners Lakin Adams and Gabi Markovich.

We recruited some rising stars in Taylor Camden, Zech Wheeler and Joshua Boley. Still, there are others who contribute and have a certain place among the staff’s core of the future.

It wasn’t easy, but before we knew it, we had ourselves a nice little team.

These folks make my life a heck of a lot easier than I thought it would be as Editor-in-Chief, and they do so every day.

This isn’t exactly the most personal way to do it, but I’d like to take this opportunity to thank each and every member of The Chart’s staff.

There is plenty of room for us to improve as a paper and a staff, but our climb up the mountain has begun.