Welcome to the last issue of The Stute for the Fall 2022 semester. Inside you will find some end-of-the-semester news, photos from EC’s Winter Wonderland event, a few select opinion columns, a monthly calendar, a semester recap of what The Stute has accomplished this semester, and wrapping paper. We encourage you to wrap your gifts to loved ones in this year’s wrapping paper, or utilize the paper as crafting paper!
The last issue of the semester also means it’s the last week you’ll hear from me about all things Stevens, The Stute, and life in general. The last issue also means that The Stute takes a break from printing and has time to Rest, Remember, and Reflect (RRR). If you read my editorial last week, you’ve already been introduced to the concept of RRRing. But for those of you who are unfamiliar, RRR is a concept useful for recollecting your thoughts at the end of major events or periods of time in your life. Last week, I talked about how to RRR as a student, so this week, I want to take some time to RRR for The Stute.
This year has been the first year that The Stute was fully back in person since the COVID-19 pandemic. While last year had most of the normalcy we were used to, there were still widespread mask mandates, canceled classes, and a variety of other changes caused by the pandemic. Last year, we were also still in the process of readjusting to in-person classes and our new printing schedule. But this year, we came back with strong momentum and new goals we wanted to accomplish.
Our first goal before beginning the semester was to hold our annual summer recruitment event, Stute Weekend. This year, we invited 12 incoming freshmen to campus for a weekend to learn more about The Stute and contribute to our first issue this academic year. The event has always been a sort of bonding experience for both the students and The Stute staff members who help run the event.
One of our largest goals this semester was to increase the size of our staff. Each issue of The Stute is filled with a Masthead and a Staff Box, showing you all the people who have contributed to that specific Stute issue. A problem we noticed last year was that the number of contributors began to dwindle as the semester went on. However, this year, we’re proud to have retained many writers, editors, photographers, etc. for The Stute! We’ve also increased the number of students on our minor board by filling two News Editor positions, a Sports Editor (which also allowed us to reinstate our sports section this year), an Assistant Layout Editor, an Assistant Copy Editor, an Assistant Business Manager, and another Social Media Manager. We also added a new “Comic Corner” to The Stute and have two comic strip artists!
Another goal for The Stute was to increase our presence online. While printed newspapers are certainly our strong suit, The Stute understands the importance of having a strong digital footprint. One way we are accomplishing this goal is by increasing our social media presence. Through the hiring of a new social media manager, The Stute has started a Tik Tok account @thestute which we hope will be a fun way for students to get to know the inner workings of The Stute. The Stute has also taken on three student developers to start a self-guided project of developing a mobile application!
The last goals for The Stute were more administrative. Firstly, we worked last semester to order new, sturdier distribution racks around campus. This semester, we were able to install them across multiple campus hot spots. Additionally, another main task for this semester was moving into our new office in the UCC. After some organizing and cleaning, we’ve finally reverted to using our office for newspaper production days.
To reflect, this semester has been quite tumultuous, yet rewarding. I am incredibly proud of the work that the staff members at The Stute put into our publication this semester, and I am curious to see what we accomplish within our 14 issues scheduled for next semester. As a closing note, good luck with finals, and on behalf of The Stute, have a great holiday!
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