Dear Readers, Happy New Year! I hope you all are enjoying the candy canes, hot chocolate, and festive decorations this season has brought. I attribute our recent hiatus to a particularly turbulent chapter in my academic career. Despite all of the hurried essays and numerous late nights, I realize that I am in the midst of a wonderful time called growing up. Like most children, I always dreamed of conquering the world. My parents used to take my brother and I to a neighborh