One month ago, a man — armed with a shotgun and a grudge — stormed the office of Maryland’s Capital Gazette newspaper publisher and killed five people. Journalists across the nation were sent reeling. Since then, they’ve been discussing the importance of local journalism, as a training ground, a community builder and more.

So we at The Daily Californian turned to our own staff and asked: What does journalism mean to you? And the answer we received, at its root, was simple: truth and hope.

For our video game beat reporter, it’s a platform and a privilege, one that she, as a woman of color with no previous reporting experience, cannot chalk up to simple luck. For our design editors, it’s a chaotic but rewarding experience — by creating layouts and editing visuals, they get to elevate the words of others. And for an arts journalist, it might just be a superpower to be able to tell the stories of people’s lives.

These are just a few of our stories, but they speak to a truth that’s undeniable for local newspapers across the country. It’s not an easy job, nor a glamorous one, but it’s invaluable — both for our communities and for ourselves.