Maddi Shinall, Visuals Editor

My first year at Grinnell I always thought about going to an S&B meeting. Then we got sent home for the pandemic. Needless to say, I didn’t join the S&B as a photographer until fall semester of my third year.

I had been a stressed-out newspaper kid in high school and had declared, to my dad, that I was taking a break from journalism my first year of college. Was there a part of me deep down that really missed taking photos? Yes, but the S&B was freelance at that point and I was on my self-proclaimed photojournalism sabbatical, so there was nothing to make me get back in the game.

Once we got sent home for the rest of the school year and were online the year after, though, I decided that whenever I finally got back onto campus I was going to work for the S&B. The S&B had also transitioned to our current staff model, and students started needing to actually apply for positions at the beginning of the semester instead of just showing up to the weekly meeting whenever they wanted. Well, that made me kick it into gear. It’s been a fruitful four semesters since.

I felt like I was back in my element with my camera in my hand. I’ve gotten to cover both fun stories, like Cribz and Drag Show, and serious ones, like UGSDW expansion. One of my photos was picked up by at least one big publication, which was a really exciting moment. I also felt like I was part of something bigger again, helping to tell people’s stories.

I’ve loved getting the opportunity to meet people that I otherwise might not have met, go to events that I might not have otherwise gone to and take photos that I am (usually) happy with. As visuals editor this year, I’ve also had the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing people and creatives on the visuals team.

To that end, I want to give a huge thank you to all of the photographers and graphics designers I’ve worked with this year on the visuals team. Big thanks to all of the section editors who I was always nagging in pitch meetings to get me better visuals ideas for their stories. Some of you actually did sometimes. And a thank you to the Editors in Chief, who have had my back this year on staff. Most importantly though, a big thank you to ‘my’ computer in pubs on layout nights. Not to brag, but I had the best one and it never crashed.