We aren’t a required assignment. The appeal of pushing back a task that isn’t immediately due is sometimes inescapable. I’ve fallen victim countless times; I get it.
However, something is rewarding not writing for a grade, but simply because you enjoy it. You get to share the stories you want. And as dramatic as it sounds, reporting events in your community builds connections. You find new groups, stories, and sometimes even friends. F&M is your community and it is important to recognize and record what happens here.
Local News is important. Local news becomes your history. It’s easy to assume the flood of emails in your inbox describing the 5 different events you could attend on a Thursday night is an account of who we are as F&M students, but it’s not. In 5, 10, and 15 years when students are sifting through archives to understand who we were as a student body, they won’t be reading emails; they will be reading The College Reporter.
The beauty of writing for The College Reporter is you are in control of what you want to report. No professor, or section editor, is forcing you to write 3,000 words on a topic you could care less about.
We want to hear about a game you enjoyed, an insightful speaker, a fun club event – anything that had any meaning to you at all. Or, maybe you want to express discontent about classes, the dining hall, or a recent policy change you disagree with. We want your voice!
I never wrote for a paper before college, I mostly wrote poems. Writers’ meetings intimidated me, for weeks I never claimed a story. I am so glad I did because TCR has given me a unique space that I value so dearly.
If you are still with me, I think I have persuaded you on the “why”, so how can you write for The College Reporter?
Our meetings are weekly on Monday nights at 6 p.m. If you can’t make these meetings, you can always email our section editors, ask for the story spreadsheet, or pitch your own idea. Stories are due on Friday nights and published on Tuesday mornings. You write as you please! You could submit once a semester or multiple times every week, we will take it all.
Your student voice matters and I sincerely hope you express with The College Reporter.
Sophomore Lily Andrey is the Campus Life Editor. Her email is landrey@fandm.edu.