Move in Day proves to be no match for WCU residents. With the hurricane starting out the fall semester, it only makes sense that we came back to a snow covered campus. The weekend weather of the two Mother Nature events would not be enough to keep students and professors from attending their first week of classes.
Quad editors found themselves back in the Quad office last week. Like many students on campus, who attended meetings along with their first classes, we had a staff meeting to get back into gear. Being a weekly newspaper, we preserve a weekly schedule; however each week is different from the previous. One of the few aspects that remains consistent each week is the labor of putting together the whole newspaper.
Each week the editors finalize putting together their sections on Sunday mornings, by doing the lay-outs. They manually put articles into the place of the columns you read. When one of us says we’re lying out in the Quad, we don’t bring beach towels or wearing bathing suits to the academic Quad. Instead we head to the Quad office. The windowless room is decorated with pictures of staff members, previous awards, and a computer designated to each editorial staff member’s section of the newspaper.
We’ve spent countless hours in the windowless room to deem the mass media work as an internship. Several students receive credit for their work through a journalism or communication practicum. Overall it’s a great learning experience, one that we include on our resumes.
We have a running stack of each issue from the semester. Our archives fill a storage room. Some papers date back to the 80s. Our newspaper itself dates back to the early 1930s, when it was originally called Quad Angles.
Searching through our newspapers from the last few years, and even from the ones that are turning yellow, I think the current staff members and writers can learn from them. Learning outside of the classroom is one of the greatest ways to learn in a college environment. If you’re interested in what this program can do for you professionally or for fun, I encourage you to join our staff.
The Quad will be looking for several new section editors. Come to our staff meetings, Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. in Sykes 253, to learn more about how our media works.
~ Ginger Rae
Editor-in-Chief