As the school year comes to a close and campus begins to clear out, a group of students is already eagerly awaiting the beginning of Fall Semester. This fall, these students will walk into The Lantern office as a slew of new and old staff alike.
The Lantern and Lantern TV, both of which are student-run, are owned by The Lantern Media Group. The new staff will include 16 students working for The Lantern and five students working for Lantern TV. Two old positions were created from old jobs, including a new assistant campus editor and social media editor.
Nicole Kraft, a clinical assistant professor of journalism in the School of Communication, served as the interim director of The Lantern Media Group for Spring Semester.
Kraft said there are specific qualities she looks for when hiring new staff members.
“We look for people who really have a good vision about where we think the coverage of campus could go, and people who are willing to commit themselves to doing it because it is not an easy job,” she said. “It is something that takes a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of energy.”
In this time of change for The Lantern, the newsroom will say goodbye to editor-in-chief Liz Young, a fourth-year graduating in May with degrees in journalism and economics. Amanda Etchison, a second-year in journalism and Chinese, will fill the editor-in-chief position this fall.
Young said confidence is an important aspect of the job that she wanted to pass down to Etchison.
“It is hard to pinpoint something because Amanda already does so many things so well,” Young said. “I would say probably my advice would be to be confident in the reason that you were chosen … There will be times where you sense that people are angry at you for a decision you made, but you know that it is your job as editor-in-chief and you have to just remember that you were picked for a reason.”
Etchison, who currently serves as campus editor, recounted how she has learned a lot under Young, and now feels ready to take on the role of editor-in-chief through recent preparation and experience at The Lantern since fall 2013.
“I have been thinking about this a lot and I have been making a large list of ideas that I drew from other papers that I can see integrating into The Lantern in the coming year … I want to see a better connection between the readers who pick up the paper every day and the writers and the people who put the paper together each night,” Etchison said.
Young is concluding her third year of working for The Lantern, in which she has been a reporter, copy editor, assistant sports editor, campus editor and editor-in-chief.
She recounted her experience of working with Kristen Mitchell, the past editor-in-chief, and how they were able to break the news of the new Ohio State president before any other news organization.
“That was really exciting because I think that’s the kind of moment where we just both got such an adrenaline rush out of it … it was really rewarding having it have been right and I think that has been my favorite memory,” Young said.
While Young expressed excitement for Etchison, leaving a beloved position always proves to be hard.
“I can easily say I have made my best friends and college experiences at The Lantern,” Young said. “I have learned that this (journalism) is really what I want to do so I can’t imagine having been at Ohio State and not being involved with The Lantern.”
The 2015-16 Lantern Media Group staff is as follows:
Editor-in-Chief: Amanda Etchison
Managing Editor for Content: Alex Drummer
Managing Editor of Design: Madison Curtis
Copy Chief: Robert Scarpinito
Campus Editor: Michael Huson
Assistant Campus Editor: Danika Stahl
Sports Editor: Ryan Cooper
Assistant Sports Editor: Kevin Stankiewicz
Arts Editor: Sallee Ann Ruibal
Assistant Arts Editor: Taylor Ferrell
Design Editor: Haley Maness
Photo Editor: Samantha Hollingshead
Assistant Photo Editor: Muyao Shen
Multimedia Editor: Khalid Moalim
Assistant Multimedia Editor: Francis Pelliciaro
Social Media Editor: Elizabeth Hackett
Station Manager: Ariana Bernard
News Director: Amanda Vaughn
Assistant News Director: Jeanna Hopton
Sports Director: Evan Szymkowicz
Assistant Sports Director: Kaley Rentz