In our three years on staff, we have always been hesitant to cover stories that require anonymous sources. Whenever someone pitched an idea that would have used anonymous sources, we either pushed it to the back burner or figured out a way to work around using them.

For this issue, we knew it was unavoidable. We saw our peers’ sports betting, but our staff was divided on whether we could actually cover it. Our staff observed how sports betting defined student culture and formed shared bonds. Still, some of our staff members had concerns about it, but our advisor empowered us to look past our fears because of this topic’s prevalence at our school.

Due to sports betting’s illegal nature we knew we would need anonymous sources, which gave us the fear of losing our credibility. We encouraged our staff members to pursue the story despite our worries. They stepped up to the challenge and impressed us with their perseverance.

In writing our special section, we wanted to find a balance between sports betting’s positives and its inherent negatives. We wanted to honor how it brings students together without glossing over the dangers of addiction.

Our goal for this issue was to present a neutral stance on a highly divided topic. We hope that in reading this, you are able to broaden your perspective on sports betting and its effects on high schoolers.