{"id":105447,"date":"2021-04-23T10:33:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T14:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=105447"},"modified":"2022-09-28T12:06:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T16:06:01","slug":"come-hell-or-high-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2021\/04\/23\/come-hell-or-high-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Come hell or high water"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

From left: Dylan Collison \u201922, business manager; Makenzie Hoeferlin \u201923, editor-in-chief; Alexis Wisler \u201922, managing editor; and Kayli Thompson \u201921, photographer<\/p><\/div>\n

By Jessica Graue \u201904, \u201909<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/span>t\u2019s Tuesday, November 3, 2020\u2014Election Night. Campus is deserted, almost desolate. But the newsroom of Wright State\u2019s student newspaper, The Guardian<\/i>, is electric with activity\u2014staffed with reporters, editors, and interns ready\u00a0 <\/span>to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just called Ohio for Trump. New York is going to Biden,\u201d an intern yells across the room.<\/p>\n

Each time a state is called, a staff member jots down a note and gets to work, furiously creating videos, posting to social media, or putting the finishing touches to an online story\u2014all while wearing masks and staying six feet apart, of course.<\/p>\n

The first newsroom team, led by editor-in-chief Makenzie Hoeferlin \u201923, clocks in at 6 p.m. and works until midnight. A second team steps in at midnight and continues to write until 6 a.m. to cover additional updates.<\/p>\n

Election Night is a special night for journalists. It\u2019s intense, difficult, and long\u2014but always exhilarating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stayed longer than planned because it was so fun. That was the first semester I felt like I was leading a team of reporters and editors,\u201d Hoeferlin said. \u201cIt was a great moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2020 election lasted well into the weekend, giving the young journalists time to prepare their coverage for the coming week during their weekly Friday planning meeting.<\/p>\n

These meetings look a little bit different this school year. Rather than spit-balling in the newsroom in the Student Union basement, Friday meetings happen virtually, in lots of digital boxes via Zoom.<\/p>\n

Hoeferlin spends her Friday mornings preparing to meet with her executive team, then plans articles and photo assignments with the staff. Typically, Hoeferlin will also devise a short writing lesson or a quick DIY, such as teaching the staff how to submit an open records request.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be knowledgeable in this position, but some people don\u2019t think that leaders are also learning from others,\u201d Hoeferlin said. \u201cI enjoy the two-way street\u2014I learn from reporters. I hope I also give them knowledge that will help them on their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business manager Dylan Collison \u201922 sells advertising and coordinates all digital efforts\u2014a pivotal role at The Guardian<\/i>, as ads create revenue. It\u2019s been more challenging with everyone working digitally due to COVID-19, but it\u2019s a challenge Collison was ready for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already encouraged everyone to be digital,\u201d he said. \u201cThe good thing is, reporters have been able to learn new skills and foster more collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A switch to digital<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

In the fall of 2017, The Guardian<\/i> followed the example of many student-run publications across the nation and ceased producing a print edition, going completely online. The shift was primarily due to budget issues. With the majority of the university population being commuters, the pick-up rate of the printed paper was low and the cost of printing too high. Thus, the creation of The Guardian Media Group, Wright State\u2019s official student-led media source.<\/p>\n

The staff had only the summer to prepare for the digital-only world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to rebrand ourselves as a comprehensive news organization,\u201d Collison said. \u201cOur goal is to be digital first and to use our resources as well as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collison and the staff worked to meet this goal with former editor Sarah Cavender \u201920. Collison and Cavender worked tirelessly, sometimes even using money from their own pockets, to make the transition as seamless as possible.<\/p>\n

They faced countless hurdles, including an out-of-date website and an uphill battle to gain more pageviews and social media followers to create a larger readership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to be present at events, not just as reporters, but as students,\u201d Cavender said. \u201cWe became more integrated with the student body.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pageviews jumped 250 percent and Cavender pushed the staff to embrace social media. All reporters created Twitter accounts and were publishing more interactive content that engaged both students and alumni.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of things you can do creatively online is immense\u2014we did galleries, created graphs, and other interactive content,\u201d Cavender said. \u201cYou can tailor articles to have Facebook posts and tweets within them. It adds credibility when you can add so much to a story; it presents a different way of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the trenches<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

The news organization\u2019s new structure was put to the test in 2019, as was the city of Dayton itself. The area was hit by several tornadoes that utterly devastated the lives of its students over Memorial Day weekend. Then, that summer, a mass shooting in the Oregon District tragically killed nine people, including a current student.<\/p>\n

Because the events took place during the Summer Semester, the full staff was not working. Cavender was on her own, something the young journalist remembers vividly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day the tornadoes hit, I drove to campus to pick up a camera and [went] out to Beavercreek. Walking the line of devastation was surreal and the quietness of a normally busy road was deafening,\u201d Cavender said. \u201cA few months later, I walked the line of devastation in the Oregon District, but this time it was memorials and flowers placed in bullet holes in buildings and windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the staff returned in the fall, they had a lot of conversations about how to cover tragedies. The staff wrote stories about how students should approach mental health, and about important financial resources for students and employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team handled it very professionally and wrote profound stories on a community that was healing,\u201d said Cavender.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But by the time these tragedies occurred, the staff seemed like old veterans, after having already experienced perhaps their biggest test yet. In January 2019, two years of contentious negotiations between Wright State faculty and university administration resulted in a 20-day faculty strike. The event drew attention nationally as one of the longest faculty strikes in the history of U.S. higher education. The Guardian<\/i> soon became a resource for news outlets all around the state and country.<\/p>\n

The staff\u2019s mission was to cover the event without opinion. The coverage of the strike is a point of pride for longtime staff advisor Debbie Lamp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most proud how they stayed unbiased\u2014they were professionals. It would be easy to choose a side on these issues as a student,\u201d Lamp said.<\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/i> continued to write about the strike even when many faculty, staff, and students mentioned their distaste with what the news group was posting online. Cavender described there being a lot of tension on campus. But, she made sure her staff\u2019s reports remained 100 percent accurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an intense time on our campus. People were attacking our journalists and our validity. It was hard to define your role on the staff or as a student at times,\u201d Cavender said.<\/p>\n

Following the end of the strike, in fall 2019, the news group shifted focus and began to report on how the university was trying to heal and move on.<\/p>\n

Through the years<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

March 19, 2021, marked the 51st anniversary of The Guardian<\/i>. The newspaper actually pre-dates the university, which in 1965 was still officially known as the Dayton Branch Campus of Miami University and Ohio State University.<\/p>\n

The campus had just opened the previous fall and had received approval from the state to become its own public university, so campus was buzzing with excitement.<\/p>\n

The first issue of The Guardian<\/i>, published on March 19, 1965, featured articles about the new anticipated university. On the front page was an article titled, \u201cWright Bros. U. on bill,\u201d a discussion of the naming of Wright State, and an article calling for an official student union to be formed.<\/p>\n

Throughout its first years, The Guardian<\/i> covered many historic moments, including coverage of the Vietnam War, student protests, reports on campus growth, the first May Daze, national tragedies, and Commencement ceremonies on the Quad.<\/p>\n

When Dr. Jeff John became advisor for The Guardian<\/i> in 1985, the paper printed four days a week and soon after became a weekly. John took a hands-off approach. The editors and reporters found stories and reported on what they wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose days, when it became a weekly until the time I tried to retire, we had some great editors, great staff, and we put together some really good papers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One article John reminisced about included a report about President Kim Goldenberg being absent from campus. The staff wrote a story called \u201cWhere\u2019s Kim?,\u201d a parody of \u201cWhere\u2019s Waldo?\u201d Afterward, Goldenberg appeared to be present on campus more often.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing the faculty mentor for The Guardian<\/i> was most satisfying when it was good and most stressful when it was bad. It\u2019s like a basketball team. You have four years of great players and then they graduate and you start over,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n

The stressful times came when staff reported on more difficult topics, including a faculty member accused of indecency and a basketball player\u2019s arrest following an altercation with a girlfriend.<\/p>\n

Not shying away from topics, no matter how controversial, is something the staff is still proud of to this day. And it\u2019s beginning to pay off again.<\/p>\n

An award-winner again<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember walking into the office and seeing all the awards that were on the wall. But we hadn\u2019t won anything since the early 2000s. I thought, \u2018What can we do to be that again?\u2019<\/span>\u201d Cavender said.<\/p>\n

And then it happened.<\/p>\n

In 2019, five members of The Guardian<\/i> were recognized by the Ohio News Media Association with second place in news coverage and third place in photography.<\/p>\n

In 2020, The Guardian<\/i> was also honored as a Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Regional Mark of Excellence finalist for online in-depth reporting. And finally, the SPJ awarded The Guardian<\/i> with second place in news and features reporting, and the big one, first place for best daily college newspaper\u2014an award bestowed to the best student publication in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was Sarah\u2019s first call. She said we won. It was crazy. It\u2019s rewarding to know what we do matters and the Miami Valley and Ohio have recognized us,\u201d Collison said.<\/p>\n

Awards are something Hoeferlin wants to continue accumulating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so surreal and intimidating, but I want to continue that into the next few years,\u201d Hoeferlin said.<\/p>\n

As for whatever the rest of 2021 has to throw at the young journalists, they will be ready.<\/p>\n

For more information and to read articles from The Guardian<\/i>, visit wsuguardian.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

This article was originally published in the spring 2021 issue of the Wright State Magazine. Find more stories at\u00a0wright.edu\/alumnimag<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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