I am the Roundup newspaper Fall 2023 editor-in-chief. I have been a student in the Media Arts Department since Fall 2019. (I know, I know. I am great at taking photos for the paper but I was never all that great at turning things in on Canvas.)
The process of changing the Roundup News print to a smaller size was not an easy one. I wrestled with a lot of insecurities about the new format and there were unexpected speed bumps when laying it out.
I only wanted more students and faculty to be more receptive to picking up a newspaper. I know everything’s online now, but there is something special about sitting on a bench on campus and holding a physical paper or magazine.
Still, during the course of putting 14 issues together, the thought lingered. “Who am I to break an almost 70-year tradition?”
But times change and so do publications.
I think it worked. The new paper is a lot easier to hold and read. Most pages have only one story so your eye doesn’t wander all over the place, and the front page has one big attention-grabbing photo.
I saw more people picking up the paper from newsstands this past semester than I had before. That’s all that matters to me.
I am thankful for my advisers and my time at Pierce. I landed three jobs before I earned my associate degree. My cameras and I have experienced so many great and terrible things that most media students don’t see until they finish their bachelor’s degree.
If you find Roundup students taking photos at your event or trying to talk to you, please remember they are just that. Students. They’re still learning, and they’re not “out to get you.”
Journalism is an important institution to our community, and it’s imperative that you know what’s going on around you.
And nobody covers Pierce College better than the Roundup.
Thank you for allowing me to serve this community as your editor-in-chief.
Benjamin Hanson