As repeated every year, summer passes by and autumn comes around. I have seen it repeating for 20 years, yet it comes as rather special this year, perhaps because it is the 60th anniversary of The Granite Tower(GT), a place that still inspires me as it did when I first entered here. This is my fourth semester at GT, but looking back, I think I really did not give enough attention to the history of this amazing institution. I stayed ignorant to its past, until one day I found myself promoted to a director and fell into a dire need to dig into its past wisdoms.

After I became a director at a division of public relations, a position in charge of keeping in touch with its alumni as well as holding its annual reunion ceremony, I came to realize the power of past wisdoms. I struggled with new tasks and challenges given to me, went through trial and errors, and finally resorted to wisdoms of my predecessors, who kindly left with me a small notebook that contains useful tips and instructions for me. It was my savior.

The lesson I got from this small experience is simple and clear: while moving forward is still our top priority, looking backward also means a lot, in that it provides us with useful wisdoms as to how to navigate a giant vessel called GT. Thus, we the GT staffs came up with a panoramic overview of the GT’s past and present for this month cover story, in hopes of learning from past mistakes and coups. And one last time, I would like to leave my last comment to GT, my most beloved place in the school: “Happy Birthday, GT!”