Springtime is strange—remnants of winter in the bleak skies and chilly breeze give way to summer weather, only to return the next week. The unpredictable El Niño weather makes spring feel less like a season of flowers and blue skies and more like the liminal space in which winter slowly unfolds into the promise of warmth to come.

Now, at the cusp of summer, rain has given way to a bursting of green. The unfurling of leaves rekindles the youthful lust for life within us all. With the conclusion of AP exams, we look forward to what summer has in store. For freshmen and sophomores, summer break is filled with the promise of learning and growth. Juniors ponder upon their future as they prepare for the next step of their academic journey. Seniors anticipate going to college as their official foray into adulthood, leaving high school—and the ball-and-chain of adolescence it represents—behind.

We are always eager to look forward. But we never seem to look around.

In Volume 6: Viridity, we travel through forests, seeking the fountain of youth. We reminisce on the naivete of our childhood. We plant gardens; we bury ourselves in them. We stand still, just beginning to understand the fleeting greenery that enshrines us. Time pulls us through the viridity of our lives too soon, so we write, draw, and paint to remind ourselves of our innocence.

Volume 6 is a reminder to us all that our youth—with all its wide-eyed and wobbly-kneed inexperience—has more to offer than we could ever imagine. High school may embody the liminality of a California El Niño Spring, but the green of our youth fades as fast as it blooms. As we sign off on our last issue of the year, we hope Viridity inspires you to treasure your roots as you grow towards your future.