Rosemary Peters
By Rosemary Peters, Staff Commentary -- peters12@up.edu
The first time The Beacon and I met, I knew it was fate.
I was a timid little pre-frosh going on a tour of the campus with my older brother. He was mere weeks away from graduation, and in the wake of his looming departure, he was excited about passing on his home to his little sister.
As we entered Franz Hall, I tripped on the lip of the entrance. In my haste to try to catch my balance, I fell sideways and reached out for the only thing I could grasp: a metal stand.
As I straightened up, I looked at the stand that had just acted as my momentary savior. That's where I saw The Beacon.
It was love at first sight.
I picked up a copy of the paper and started flipping through it. Headlines hopped out at me. New dorms expected to cost $20 million… Sex policies criticized... Listen to ‘R.E.M.'s ‘Accelerate.'
Pictures popped. They might have been showing me students I'd never met, but they gave me a face for the University.
Lists of campus events trailed down sidebars, making me excited for the next year when I could attend these things. The Public Safety report made me laugh with its list of minor mishaps and student shenanigans.
Now, as editor-in-chief of the very paper I fell in love with years ago, I have the privilege of helping to turn this paper into something more than just ink on a page.
The Beacon isn't a publication written by people in a faraway land. It doesn't magically appear in racks every Thursday. The Beacon is you. This is your paper, written for students by students.
Our main goal at The Beacon, beyond safegaurding your right to free speech and provoking free and responsible discussion, is to serve you.
We want to hear from you, no matter what you have to say. Opinion pieces, story ideas, hot tips, Letters to the Editor, emails singing our praises or airing your grievences – we want them all.
We at The Beacon take our goal to serve you seriously. In the weeks to come, I hope our dedication to serving you is not only highly evident but beyond satisfactory in both our print and online edition.
In past years, our website has been in need of some TLC, and this year it will finally get that hands-on attention. Our website will be upgraded by the end of the month. With this upgrade, your news will be flying at you in every form imaginable: video, audio, print. We will have it all.
Our print edition is also a work in progress. The entire staff is excited to wrap your fair and accurate news in cool designs punctuated with amazing photos, packaging your campus news in ways that are more enjoyable to read and easier to understand.
However, the only thing I ask of you, dear reader, is to jump into this exciting new era with us. Our progress is, well, a work in progress. We will always do our best to leave you satisfied with each Thursday's edition, and we will also try to do our best to keep you coming back for more.
Welcome to The Beacon. I hope to be seeing you again next Thursday.
