Every Monday morning for the past year, I have had the chance to see Grinnell in a new light. As I walk my paper route, hands stained with ink from the editions I carry, I get to see the campus as it slowly opens its eyes and comes awake.
Every Thursday night for the past two and a half years, I have had the chance to see Grinnell as it drifts to sleep. The task of laying out the weekly paper is one that takes The S&B editing team into the late hours of the night and occasionally into the early morning. By the time co-Editor in Chief Nick El Hajj `24 and I have sent our pages to the printer and begun our walk from the Joe Rosenfield Center (JRC) to our homes on High Street, the campus has mostly turned off its lights and closed its doors.
It’s in these moments that The S&B has provided for me that I appreciate not only the many facets of Grinnell, but the immense amount of work that goes into producing each and every paper.
I’m not sure I knew it when I first came to work at The S&B as a second year, but the three years I would come to spend as a student journalist would expose me to the nooks and crannies of Grinnell. From the Iowa Caucuses to college COVID protocols to new restaurants in town, every story has given me insight into an entirely new issue or community.
I have also gotten the opportunity to get to know the wonderful team that makes up The S&B staff. In addition to being the most talented group of writers, photographers, graphic designers and editors that I have ever met, many of them have been my closest friends at Grinnell through our years together at the paper.
Taking on the position of editor in chief as a fourth year has been a learning experience through and through, and one that I know will shape my life and career going forward. I hope that wherever journalism takes me throughout my life, it helps me engage with the world around me in the way that The S&B has.
