2008 Woodie Awards
Departing editor reminisces about UTC experience
Laura Bond
Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: Editorial
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Want to know a secret? I initially didn't choose UTC.
It's practically heresy, I know. As the editor of the student newspaper, I should be a bastion for all things blue and gold.
Despite the shiny pamphlets sent to my parents' house and participation in several campus tours, I chose another school.
I went through the orientation session and enrolled in classes. But something didn't fit. It just wasn't right. I never made it to my first class. Instead, I left.
My only other option was UTC. I barely squeezed into the final summer orientation session and into the last, few available classes.
Though I've learned a lot in the lectures and labs over the years, I've also discovered what you learn outside of the classroom can be just as important.
I've learned so much in the newsroom where I've spent hours putting together The Echo. I've recieved lessons in perseverance, time management and leadership, to name a few.
Some lessons have been harder than others. Being the editor means it's difficult to balance everyone's opinions, but in the end you have to do what you feel is right.
People may not agree with it, but you might earn their respect for standing up for yourself.
But it also means taking responsibility for when things go completely, utterly wrong. Even if it's not your fault and more importantly if it is, you have to muster up the courage and swallow your pride in order to apologize and try to make it right.
I'll admit that there were some days I didn't want to get out of bed, but I never once stopped believing in what the Echo does and its value to this campus. I will look back fondly on the time spent working with the other staff members. I worked with some of the most brilliant and insane people I will probably ever meet.
That might describe all journalists, I suppose, but I believe you have to be a certain kind of crazy to work here. The crazy that stays up until the late hours meticulously editing dozens of stories, designing pages or taking pictures. The crazy that sacrifices time spent studying, working at better paying jobs or just having fun with friends to put a paper out every week.
It's practically heresy, I know. As the editor of the student newspaper, I should be a bastion for all things blue and gold.
Despite the shiny pamphlets sent to my parents' house and participation in several campus tours, I chose another school.
I went through the orientation session and enrolled in classes. But something didn't fit. It just wasn't right. I never made it to my first class. Instead, I left.
My only other option was UTC. I barely squeezed into the final summer orientation session and into the last, few available classes.
Though I've learned a lot in the lectures and labs over the years, I've also discovered what you learn outside of the classroom can be just as important.
I've learned so much in the newsroom where I've spent hours putting together The Echo. I've recieved lessons in perseverance, time management and leadership, to name a few.
Some lessons have been harder than others. Being the editor means it's difficult to balance everyone's opinions, but in the end you have to do what you feel is right.
People may not agree with it, but you might earn their respect for standing up for yourself.
But it also means taking responsibility for when things go completely, utterly wrong. Even if it's not your fault and more importantly if it is, you have to muster up the courage and swallow your pride in order to apologize and try to make it right.
I'll admit that there were some days I didn't want to get out of bed, but I never once stopped believing in what the Echo does and its value to this campus. I will look back fondly on the time spent working with the other staff members. I worked with some of the most brilliant and insane people I will probably ever meet.
That might describe all journalists, I suppose, but I believe you have to be a certain kind of crazy to work here. The crazy that stays up until the late hours meticulously editing dozens of stories, designing pages or taking pictures. The crazy that sacrifices time spent studying, working at better paying jobs or just having fun with friends to put a paper out every week.
