I’ve been a part of student media since December of 2023 and have spent one full year as a writer and photographer and the second half of this year as the Online Editor-in-Chief. It feels like I’ve been here for an eternity with the way I’ve immersed myself into my role.
I no longer see it as a job, but as an experience that I look forward to every day. My time here has motivated me to stay disciplined in and outside of work.
However, the heart of Student Media and its beauty lies within its non-traditional student leaders. There is a stigma around community colleges that carries a perception of inadequacy within the student population, or even the idea that people that graduate from community colleges are less employable or knowledgeable. The reality is that Running Start students, students across different generations, students the work other jobs and students from different ethnic backgrounds are the reason why we can publish such awesome work centered around unity and diversity.
Our specific team, the Student Media Team, operates differently than the other teams in the Office of Student Life. Our team is largely introverted and incredibly independent, leaving us most often misunderstood. The OSL is a physical representation of the student body, while Student Media is the voice of the students. Ironically, Student Media may have the most unrecognizable faces. But make no mistake, this is the hardest working and most talented team I personally know.
Treva Adkins, my Editor-in-Chief counterpart, has initiated positive and fundamental change in our department by incorporating the New Voices Law. This brings freedom of the press to our work, allowing for the true magic of the student body to take over the Student Media team. From there we have been able to finalize the new student media constitution, code of ethics and job discerptions that will serve as framework for the next generation of student media members.
Our last two magazines have been centered around the diversity of our team and the students at Pierce College. Yet, I am particularly proud of Issue 4.
The 70’s was a time where, while esthetically cool, very few of our team members would have been given the same job or same chance as success. We picked a 70s theme to this magazine to put into focus the fact that Student Media has truly been able to live up to the Pierce College Possibilities Realized motto.
All in all, this team has demanded things from me that has forced me to become a better leader. I can say confidently that it has been a privilege and an honor to be able to lead this team and serve the Pierce College community.
