The district budget has a deficit. Everyone knows it.

The Tower has written about it and its effects enough times to know this: science department has had to cut down on experiments, middle school elective teachers have become part time and the addition of security guards in lieu of hall monitors. We have not talked about how the deficit affects us as a newspaper.

We at The Tower are aware that we are not more special than any other program in the district. We are feeling the same effects as everyone else, having our budget decrease and having our last issue grant be denied. With that said, we are doing everything in our power to get our necessary funding.

As of right now, we can’t publish self-sufficiently. We generate revenue from subscriptions and advertising sales, but that is simply not enough to publish an eight-page paper on a weekly basis.

We discovered a few months ago the Mother’s Club grant, which pays for the final issue of The Tower, was not passed. Tower, for the first time in at least ten years, will be responsible for paying over $3000 for a 28 page colored issue which will be delivered to every person in the building, not just subscribers. The final issue of The Tower is highly anticipated every year. It contains every senior’s college plans. It contains senior staffers’ column they anticipate writing since they joined staff. It praises athletic commits and academic hall of fames. The Tower would not be The Tower if we could not publish this issue in full effects.

The final issue is not our only problem. Our softwares for the website and the software to design the paper are not cheap. There are many additional features used by professional media outlets that we are curious to try out. Technology use is evidently increasing in form, so it doesn’t make sense for the budget to not correlate with these changes.

Consequently, fundraising is a new element we have to focus on in Tower. Time is no longer only spent on writing stories and designing pages, we now have to prioritize funding and business. As the banner on page one and the story on page three describe, we are hosting a 90th edition celebration of The Tower. We see this as an opportunity to begin the fundraising process and bring together a group of amazing people.

As for this special 12 page issue – we see it as a way to prepare the community for what is in store at the party. We want to celebrate 90 years of excellence within the school as well as The Tower. To honor the people who made this school successful. To reminisce on the history and stories throughout decades.

Grosse Pointe South is fortunate enough to have a helpful group of alum who still live within the community and support the origin of their education. This special edition is for all the people who have helped make this school and The Tower the legacy it is today. It’s for all the people who have graciously allowed us to retell their stories from the past and explore the changes through time. We hope you enjoy this issue and can continue supporting us through these times.