I jumped into my second year as News Editor bright-eyed and excited. Although I was News Editor last year, this year the entire staff came in with a vision for the role our newspaper should play in providing the facts and insight behind the big stories on campus. With a year’s worth of experience, I felt as though I had a better sense of how I wanted to go about achieving this goal in the News section.

As News Editor, my job involved planning and assigning articles, writing, editing the work of others, and putting together the News section pages on the office computer. While the feeling of seeing your work published never gets old, the feeling of seeing what you put together on a computer screen turned into printed pages is even more incredible.

I enjoy researching and writing stories because I get to talk to students and faculty who I might not have otherwise met, but the highlight of my job is working with The Paladin’s staff of dedicated writers. Our staff is talented, and I get the unique opportunity of watching them grow as journalists. The efforts of the news writers have been worthwhile this year, especially when assigned some difficult stories. Without the weekly work of students hitting the pavement, conducting interviews and research, and summarizing that information in an accessible and engaging way, Furman would not have a newspaper.

After this issue, I am stepping down as News Editor to study abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, next semester. Sophomore Courtney Such will be replacing me, and I look forward to seeing the ways in which she will apply her own unique journalism experience in the News section.

My hope for next semester and the future is that students who enjoy writing will not be afraid to seek us out and become contributors. There are many students who aspire to careers in fields like publishing, communications, and marketing who would benefit from the experience of being a staff writer for a newspaper like The Paladin. If you’re interested in being involved in any way, feel free to contact me, Courtney, or any member of our staff.