Here we go

I almost forgot I had to write this.

Whew. Okay, well, this past Tuesday I was elected as the 112th (or 113th, we’re not quite sure) Editor-in-Chief of The Stute. In a lot of ways, I don’t believe I’ve been elected quite yet. Partially, it’s because it’s only been a few days since elections. However, I’m mostly in disbelief because I never envisioned myself in this position. And that’s not the typical cliché: I really didn’t.

When I joined The Stute in the second semester of my freshman year (Spring 2013), I wrote. That’s it. I attended meetings, shyly and reluctantly raised my hand for article(s) no one wanted to take, and wrote. I didn’t feel welcomed by the current executive board because there wasn’t the loose, friendly atmosphere in room 212a of Jacobus Hall that there is today.

As recent graduate and Editor-in-Chief from two cycles ago Ralph Moscato took over, I began to get involved more. I was helping to lay out our sports and world news pages and still got to write weekly. In fact, I even ran for the member-at-large position, a name-your-own position on the executive board. I didn’t win, and that kind of shattered any potential hope I had for ascending to a greater position in The Stute… until I was elected Managing Editor by default after events occurred during last semester’s elections, and Joseph A. Brosnan (he likes it spelled this way) became editor-in-chief.

In the past year I have been managing editor, I’ve accelerated from almost literally 0 to 60. I began as a fluke who didn’t really deserve the position, continued forward gaining experience, and became Editor-in-Chief. However, Dennis Stewart, Lisa Mengotto, Chris Chiu, Olivia Schreiber, and I would not be the collective executive board of The Stute if it were not for Joe Brosnan.

Now, listen: Joe, you’re probably editing this, rolling your eyes a bit at what seems like class-A suck-uppery, but I think people need to know something about The Stute, something that began when you became Editor-in-Chief.

I used this same metaphor in my speech for this position, but Joe led The Stute in an excavation like no other. He helped dig this organization out of a steep hole that The Stute began to fall into in the most recent years of its 111-year history, one that was not just impeding progress, but preventing it from even occurring.

My goal for The Stute during my tenure as Editor-in-Chief is simple: lay a solid foundation for all future Editor-in-Chiefs, executive board members, and staff alike. I want to ensure that no future member has to deal with the dirty and difficult hole-digging that this past year’s members have. I have at least 25 ideas and matters that I want to see executed and dealt with by the time I step down, and that’s not even counting the crazy amount of ideas every board member and staff has vocalized since the elections.

The Stute is in the best place it has been since 1904. This is not a reference to quality or prestige necessarily, but to the fact that we all have been given an opportunity to progress. The hole’s being patched, the seeds are being spread, and The Stute is ready to roll.

Here we go.