Happy October Tartans. I have realized that in most of my letters that I tend to fall into a vague uplifting message with no real subject. To my chagrin and to others elation, I will not be doing that this time.
This time, I want to focus on the Clarion and where we are at right now. There have been many trials and tribulations that have tested not only the sanity of our staff, but the strength of our team as well.
At the end of the last spring semester, nearly our entire staff left. We went from roughly 15 people on staff to five.
They either graduated or moved on to complete their bachelor’s degree at a four-year university. With so few students taking classes in the summer semester, filling the void was not easily done.
I had only been the editor for about two months and was new to the industry as a whole. Since I was so green I had come to rely on the experience that my peers had, and after so many people left, the new team members and I were thrown into a sink or swim situation.
Most would probably cut their losses and run. Instead of the easy way out, the five of us put our heads down and weathered the storm.
Like anything, there were false starts. People coming on with promises of experience and dedication, only to leave without notice; some never even making it past the hiring process.
We did what we could, knowing that if we could make it to the fall semester, then more people would come on and we could get back to business as usual.
Once the fall did come, we found passionate and eager students that wanted to not only learn the journalism industry but wanted to contribute to Sinclair’s community as well. It was a welcomed breath of fresh air.
Now, with nearly 17 people on staff we are back to our normal operations. But we are not back in the same way. The commitment and interest that each and every one of our team members posses is allowing us to go further then we went before.
We are breathing rare air. There are so many interesting things happening at Sinclair and the Dayton community as a whole. There are places to go, people to meet, events to cover and a bustling community to explore.
Our goal is to find these people, places and things, write about them and let our readers know exactly what is going on around them.
In this edition readers will find the best of our work and the culmination of our commitment to our audience. Each page has been carefully selected to fill the needs and interests of each reader. Happy October Tartans; I look forward to the next one, and every one after that.
Noah Schlarman, executive editor
Checkout more posts by the Clarion:
- Letter from the Editor October Edition
- Dr. Dan Wait’s journey from studying at Berkley to teaching at Sinclair
- 2 Democrats, 1 decision: Dayton’s mayoral election
- From Samhain to sweets: Halloween’s haunted history
- “Too Old for Candy?”: When Trick-or-Treating Loses Its Spook
- Sam Stanley’s personal experience of being a WWOOFer
