Holy $#^%.
Those two words are how I introduced myself as editor-in-chief at the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year and somehow, one year later, it still feels apt to start this column that way.
In that column, I wrote I had three main goals in mind for Student Publications; I wanted to improve our sport coverages, our video content and our social media presence. Looking back at the year, I wanted to reflect on how those goals turned out.
First, my goal of improving our sports coverage. Student Publications has come a long way in the past year with covering sports, all thanks to our wonderful sports editor, MaKayla Baxter. The number of sports stories we have covered this year probably outnumbers the sports stories we have done in that past two years, and that includes most sports being postponed for half of the year.
My goals of improving our video content did not pan out exactly as I planned. Unfortunately, I did not have the time I needed to focus on video content. Our Video Editors Josh Eliot and Shelby O’Brien have done an excellent job editing footage and crafting videos to go up on the website, but I need to create a better pipeline for the video process, as I get distracted easily by our articles. The same goes for social media presence. Our Lifestyles Editors has done a great job posting stories to our social media, but I was hoping to create an improved system for how those got posted to improve traffic to our website.
Other than those goals, I think Student Publications has done a great job operating during the pandemic. We changed our workflow to be less centered on the newsroom, which was a necessary change for the pandemic, but one that may stick around due to its practicality. With in-person events being canceled during most of the year, our Photo Editor Stephen Jackson and staff photographers had to get very creative with, and they have done an excellent job. We have stopped relying so much on stock photos for the website despite having less events overall to photograph.
Student Publications has also covered breaking news than we have in the past few years. Thanks to our News Editor Francesca Iacovacci, more news stories have been able to be immediately uploaded to the website once they were ready. I am looking to improve the system by which we assign writers breaking stories, but since we did not have that system this year and were still able to cover the stories as fast and we did is a significant improvement overall.
And last but not least, I need to thank the person on this staff that has kept the whole operation moving smoothly. What can I say about our Associate Editor Des Barrett? They are the hardest working person I know. If they hadn’t been here during my time as editor-in-chief, the pages you are reading now would probably just be flames. They help me to keep my head on straight and to keep pushing forward. I could not have asked for a better coworker and a better friend.
While some of my goals were not hit for this year, Student Publications was still able to survive and thrive throughout the year, and we could not have done it without our wonderful staff of students on the paper. I am deeply grateful to everyone, named and unnamed, who was able to work with us this year. Even though this year may have been the craziest in my lifetime, I’m glad I was able to spend it working with some of the hardest working people I know. My passion for journalism has only been strengthen with all of your work and enthusiasm. Thank you all for your work and your time. Without all of you, there would be no paper.
Finally, I would like to thank our readers. Everything we do for Student Publications is for you all, and I hope we have served you well this year. Even with this crazy year in mind, I cannot wait to see what next year brings. So, bring it on 2021-22 academic year! Student Publications is coming at you!
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