Elsewhere it might not feel like a new year: there was no countdown, no ball dropping, but here on campus it feels like a brand new year.
May 1 marks the first day in office of the new Feds exec, an exciting day for <em>Imprint</em> as the new exec will be an important part of on-campus news for the next year. In case you were completely out of touch over the last four months, your new exec consists of Danielle Burt, president; Maaz Yasin, VP internal; Stephane Hamade, VP education; and Ben Balfour, VP operations and finance.
May 1 also marks the first day of <em>Imprint’s</em> new board of directors. We’re lucky this year as we’re starting with a full board, allowing us to hit the ground running. Some of the board members are former <em>Imprinters</em>, and others are brand new to our organization. This will provide multiple perspectives that I believe will benefit <em>Imprint</em>. Our new president, Gabriela Grant, is a former copy editor and web editor, and has been a very dedicated member of <em>Imprint</em> for the past five years. Michelle Sterba, vice-president, has been my managing editor for the past two terms and will be a very capable VP. Our new treasurer is Jeremy Gilchrist, a former sports editor, assistant copy editor, and columnist. His knowledge of finances will be a great benefit to <em>Imprint</em>. Our two newbies are well-known names on campus. Jesse McGinnis, former Feds board of directors member, is our new staff liaison, and former MathSoc president Elizabeth McFaul is secretary.
It’s even a new year for <em>Imprint</em>. Our last paper of winter term was the last issue of Volume 36, so this paper is the first of Volume 37.
I’m hoping that Volume 37 comes with a lot of improvements from Volume 36. It’s been a long time since <em>Imprint</em> has had the same EIC two years in a row so I have the great opportunity to pick out <em>Imprint’s</em> weaknesses and work on them for a whole new year.
My last column was a look back on the past year so here’s a quick look ahead.
I would like <em>Imprint’s</em> website to become an up-to-the-minute news source. I don’t believe that is something we can accomplish in one year but it is something we can start working on.
Our stories with the greatest number of hits over the past year have more often than not been breaking news stories. The recent measles story is one of our most read stories of all time. Hopefully, <em>Imprint</em> continues this trend.
My other main goal for the year is something I have mentioned in numerous columns before, but since it’s a new year and there are new students on campus, I’ll say it again.
Video has become such a prevalent component of the news industry. Last term, we did video roundtables for the Feds election that were, by my own standards, a hit.
One thing I need to achieve all these goals is volunteers. Any undergraduate student can volunteer at <em>Imprint</em>. No matter what skills you have or what skills you’d like to learn, there is some area at <em>Imprint</em> you can get involved in.
So stop by the office (SLC 1116), email me at editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca, tweet us @uwimprint, or message us on facebook.com/uwimprint to get started. I promise, you won’t regret it.
