{"id":143605,"date":"2023-11-13T14:35:21","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T19:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=143605"},"modified":"2024-04-17T15:56:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T19:56:39","slug":"student-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2023\/11\/13\/student-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Student guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Under the leadership of editor-in-chief, Alexis Lewis, the Wright State Guardian publishes new content daily and the Nexus Literary Journal and Flight Magazine.<\/p><\/div>\n

Alexis Lewis, a dual English<\/a> and French major at Wright State University who also doubles as the editor-in-chief of the Wright State Guardian<\/a>, arrives on campus most days at 8 a.m. and doesn\u2019t find herself leaving until 8 p.m. or later.<\/p>\n

Moreover, she is completing her honors thesis project to coincide with her spring 2024 graduation while also working on writing and editing projects for the Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

A native of the hamlet of Christiansburg in Champaign County, Lewis graduated from Graham High School in 2020 as class valedictorian. Listening to her brother\u2019s glowing reviews and after receiving a full academic scholarship, Lewis followed in her sibling\u2019s footsteps and enrolled at Wright State that fall.<\/p>\n

She moved to an off-campus apartment and because she arrived at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and took online classes, she initially found college life to be somewhat muted. Lewis wondered aloud whether she would have \u201cthe college experience\u201d since she did not live or attend classes on campus. Those reservations quickly subsided as she made new friends and dove into her classes and activities and the eventual return of students to campus.<\/p>\n

As a first-year student, Lewis was unsure what she wanted to major in when she enrolled at Wright State. After taking a cross-section of classes, she chose English with an emphasis on technical and professional writing because of her love of STEM and language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved reading and writing,\u201d said Lewis. \u201cI love language itself. You can see the power in words. The combination of professional and technical writing allows me to write about what interests me while not necessarily being a subject matter expert.\u201d<\/p>\n

She admits to stumbling onto French after watching an online video featuring Kirsten Halling, Ph.D., professor of French, giving a presentation and was immediately hooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cKirsten was very passionate in her presentation and made me fall in love with France without knowing anything about it yet,\u201d said Lewis.<\/p>\n

Lewis\u2019 interests were further piqued after participating in a three-week faculty-led Ambassador Program to study abroad in France. The group taught English to students in Nice the first week and then spent the following two weeks in Paris imbibing the culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the best experience I ever had,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThe fact that I was able to immerse myself in another culture was just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halling, who led the European trip, said Lewis drank in the art, history and cuisine of France with unmitigated enthusiasm that motivated others in the study abroad cohort to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlexis is one of those special people who manages to be everything a student should strive to be,\u201d said Halling. \u201cA first-generation college student, she navigates her way through her studies with the inquisitiveness and thoroughness of a professional journalist, leaving no stone unturned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mapping out the courses and timeline with advisors, Lewis realized changing her French minor to a major midway through her junior year was eminently doable and would prove to be a worthwhile addition to her English major.<\/p>\n

As if she were not busy enough, she decided to combine the passion for sports she cultivated from her father and brother with her love of writing and apply for a sportswriter position with the Wright State Guardian.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there were no open positions in the sports department, so she put her quest to be the next Emily Kaplan on hold. Instead, Lewis was offered the job of managing editor.<\/p>\n

She was promoted to editor-in-chief this year and now leads the Guardian, which has been published regularly since 1965.<\/p>\n

As a fully digital publication, the Wright State Guardian publishes new content daily, including photo galleries, videos, stories and news items. Lewis and her team also publish the Nexus Literary Journal and Flight Magazine.<\/p>\n

A typical day for Lewis consists of managing a team of 10 to 11 writers, conducting research, writing, editing, gathering sources, determining the scope of stories and curating ideas for engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs editor-in-chief, I want to be there for the team,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel as though I lead holistically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing staff growth as an example, she said participation and interest in the paper have expanded, adding that the Guardian is an instrument for student instruction and an extension of the overall educational experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t run this like The New York Times,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re welcoming and empathetic. You can make mistakes. It\u2019s a learning process. We want for this to be like a second classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debbie Lamp, associate director of student involvement and leadership and advisor to the Guardian, said Lewis is not only an excellent student, but she is also an excellent editor-in-chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff really respects her, and they are trying to do a lot of different things this year,\u201d said Lamp. \u201cEvery editor adds something different to the Guardian and Alexis is no exception. I\u2019m just sad that she\u2019s graduating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis said the Guardian holds the same relevancy today as it has since its inception nearly six decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur audience is the students,\u201d said Lewis. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019re student-run and student-led … we\u2019re always relevant. We tailor our publication to be informative to the entire Wright State community, especially the students. We want to be more active in the community and focus on future growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for her future endeavors after graduating, Lewis said that is yet to be determined. She knows she does not want to be a journalist or teach in the United States but hasn\u2019t ruled out the possibility of returning to France to teach English.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to be able to serve the public in different ways and achieve a perfect work\/life balance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the leadership of editor-in-chief, Alexis Lewis, the Wright State Guardian publishes new content daily and the Nexus Literary Journal and Flight Magazine. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":143606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2045,747,715,4855,4298,4295,2061],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-honors-program","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies","category-student-profile","category-study-abroad","category-undergraduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143605"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149504,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143605\/revisions\/149504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}