I remember the first time I discovered The Collegian. I was a freshman, hunched over my laptop at a table on the bottom floor of McFarlin, and I was looking for any opportunity to distract myself from the math homework I was supposed to submit in an hour. I spotted the beige-gray paper and bold blue logo of a newspaper on the table across from me, which I quickly realized must be the university’s student paper. It offered me a welcome distraction with updates on TU’s sports teams, some comments about local news and a point-counter-point about national politics.
“That’s cool,” I thought to myself. “I should write an article for them one day.”
And then I didn’t. At least, I didn’t for another three years. I continued hearing about the paper from close friends who served as editors and followed the never-ending drama of True Commitment and Student Association, but I never made the time to write an article myself. At the end of my junior year, I was approached by one of my editor friends about an opening on The Collegian staff. He knew I “liked to draw” and thought I could help create the covers. I had no experience with digital art and knew next to nothing about Adobe products, but I thought the job sounded fun, so I accepted it.
Here I am, a year later, with a couple dozen covers and a handful of articles completed. It’s been a learning-curve for sure, with late nights watching Adobe Illustrator tutorial videos and long work days on Sundays trying to navigate the ins-and-outs of Photoshop, but it’s been a joy and a privilege to work with The Collegian staff. To my fellow editors, thanks for taking a chance on me, thanks for helping me learn and thanks for the laughs on those long Sunday work days.
Gratefully,
Celeste
