Empowerment can be found in countless shapes and forms, and this year gifted us with an abundance of examples. From the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas who stood up for their beliefs after the tragic shooting at their school, to Gucci banning the use of fur to help end harmful practices in fashion, along with brands like Madewell and J.Crew who expanded their sizing options for all body types. We live in a time in which you should feel empowered to own every single, wonderful thing that makes you, you.

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That's why we adopted Empower as this year's fall theme. The entire staff of UP and I wanted to create an issue that not only displayed instances of confidence, diversity and strength on our campus and in our world–we also wanted to applaud it.

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Which is why, for the first time ever, an issue of UP has four covers. While each magazine carries the exact same contents, we desired to represent different stories, different styles and different perspectives on the facey-est part of our publication. We hope that our content more simply represents our community as a whole. Welcome to the new era of UP, and to the new era of our world.