Holy $#^%.
Those two words, I believe, sum up what a lot of us are feeling going into this fall semester. I know I have felt apprehensive coming back to school in the midst of a global pandemic, a nationwide movement and presidential elections all colliding into one year that will be the headache of high school students in their history classes in the future. It feels cathartic writing those words on the page, even though I censored one of them. It relieves me.
Hello everyone and welcome back! My name is Paul Dower, and I am this year’s Editor-in-Chief for Student Publications. I am a BFA Film junior. I am a huge fan of Superman, I like squishies, and strawberries are my favorite food. I started at Student Publications at the beginning of my freshman year. I started on the Editorial Board the second semester of my freshman year as Associate Copy Editor, moved up into Copy Editor starting my sophomore year, and then graduated into EIC.
I have several goals that I am aiming for this year. First and foremost, I am wanting to focus more on sports stories. In the past, Student Publications has not been the best at reporting on events happening in our sports programs, and there are a lot of students, staff and faculty that work really hard to make that program run as well as it does. Our sports Stars deserve some recognition for their achievements that they worked for tirelessly.
Another one of my goals is to create more video content for our website. I know that I enjoy watching videos to get my information, and I believe that putting more effort into going to events and getting concise coverage of those events.
Last, but not least, I would like to improve our social media presence. Most people, myself included, find most of their information from links through various social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. I want to post links to our stories from our website onto those social media websites, as well as interact with all of you on a more day-to-day basis.
Over the summer, there have been significant changes to the Editorial Board to both personnel and positions themselves. We have added and changed a lot of our positions to prioritize these goals. Our editorial staff is now as follows: Editor-in-Chief, Paul Dower; Managing Editor, Luke Barrett; Photo Editor, Stephen Jackson; News Editor, Francesca Iacovacci; Video Editor Shelby O’Brien; Lifestyle Editor, Jessica Vanek; Arts & Entertainment Editor, Troy Freeman; and Sports Editor, MaKayla Baxter.
Our job as student media is to keep the campus informed. If anyone needs to get in contact with us, our email is stupub@okcu.edu. My school email is pmdower@my.okcu.edu if anyone wants to get in contact with me personally. We are here to inform and serve you. As The Washington Post slogan goes, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
I really hope everyone can find some form of comfort and solace this year. It is easy to get lost in all the social and political change going on in our nation and around the world, but keep your head up and fight for what is right. This year has been a rough one so far, but it is never too late to make it a better year.
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