The Planet 2023
Dear WWU Alumni,
What a year it has been for The Planet!
2022 was a year of transitions and exciting developments in our little newsroom. The launch of The Planet’s yearly Anthology by former Editor-In-Chief Kaleigh Carrol last year opened a new avenue for the magazine. With a quarterly online and a yearly print publication, The Planet was given a new stride and breath to continue its work of community environmental journalism. We are looking forward to sharing the next Anthology with you all this spring.
The fall edition of The Planet is now online for all of you to read. Led by Emma Bjornsrud and our new advisor Eli Loomis, the “Sound” edition covers multiple stories spanding from Puget Sound stories, environmental stewardship, Native culture, heritage and much more.
As we work on the Winter edition, “Layers,” the staff has been working on many special projects and the redesign of the magazine’s website. All this work and expansion could not have been made possible without the work of former staffs, reporters, photographers, and your continued support.
The Planet Magazine is a staple for environmentalism and student publications here at Western Washington University, thanks to all who have been engaged with the magazine and its purpose since its inception.
We are more energized than ever, and intend to keep to The Planet’s mission to prioritize diversity, inclusivity and community at the center of our public discussions. “The Planet aims to cover environmental issues, developments and justice, promoting community voices and ways to mitigate hazards, or forward solutions to public discourse through thoughtful, ethical and holistic journalism.” That won’t change anytime soon!
Because we are making community our number one priority, I encourage you to reach out and submit pieces through our Submissions page. Community voices are just as important as the reporting done within our newsroom.
Wishing you the best for 2023,
With jitters for what The Planet holds in store for the future,
Clifford Heberden
The Planet Editor-In-Chief
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A triumphant return to the newsroom characterized the start of the 2021 academic year for The Planet. Beginning in spring of 2020, The Planet went virtual, and four quarters of remote reporting and digital meetings left editors itching to return to in-person. Despite this, reporters consistently crafted thorough, thoughtful and important environmental journalism stories despite the challenging circumstances brought on by the global pandemic. But in fall of 2021, brushing the dust off the newsroom’s computers and cleaning the offices’ coffee machine, left abandoned and forgotten in the rush to quarantine, was a satisfying endeavor.
From fall of 2020 through spring of 2021, we did not produce a print magazine. As an editor during those quarters, I didn’t experience the equal amounts of stress and satisfaction that comes from producing and holding the physical magazine, but I did witness the dedication and determination of Planeteers going after the story for digital publication. When I was brought on as Editor-in-Chief, my first quarter was back in person, and my fantastic team of editors and I dove into the fall quarter with the zeal and enthusiasm of editors excited to experience what it was like to work in the physical newsroom instead of the virtual Zoom room.
Our fall issue, The Unseen, was an exhausting, exhilarating, intimidating and invigorating experience. As EiC, I had a lot to learn about creating a print magazine, and my editing team helped guide and support the team of Planet reporters on a quick deadline. Throughout the quarter, stories morphed and developed into final products, and the collection of stories in The Unseen issue is a testament to the perseverance of each reporter in the class. As an editing team, though, we noticed the stories didn’t have the time to grow when they were under the crunch of the print deadline. Throughout the pandemic, the writers had a number of extra weeks to learn about and report their stories, and those extra weeks seemed to allow the reporters to tackle more depth, nuance and complexity in their reporting. This brings me to the changes the editing team decided to pursue for The Planet as a whole.
Beginning in winter of 2022, we did not have a quarterly print magazine. In fact, we won’t be releasing a quarterly print magazine from here on out. Instead, The Planet will focus and dedicate more of its quarterly energy to developing our online presence. We created a new social media coordinator position for the staff, and already our social media accounts feel a bit more alive. The social media coordinator will also be working on a new website that will be launched in spring of 2022. Our Voices section will also be growing and will be a more prominent feature on both our social media accounts and our website, allowing a bigger platform for community engagement and involvement. Our winter 2022 issue, Intersections, will be published March 16, 2022, online.
But we aren’t abandoning the print world entirely. In spring 2022, The Planet will release its first ever anthology issue, a collection of the best stories from spring 2021 through winter of 2022. These anthology issues will be larger than the quarterly print magazine, and will hold a collection of Planet stories from the preceding three quarters. The decision to stop creating a quarterly magazine was not easy, and the editing team had to think about it for many weeks before coming to the final decision. But seeing our social media activity grow, our website improve and the reporters have more time for quality reporting has already been rewarding, and I’m so excited to see what future editor-in-chiefs will do with these new avenues for growth.
I will be leaving The Planet this spring to focus on my own writing skills. After a year and a half as an editor, I’m excited to pick up the pen (or, I suppose, the keyboard) and find my own stories to tell. I’m passing the baton on to my managing editor Kaleigh Caroll, who will lead The Planet with the dedication to quality and journalistic skill she has exhibited throughout her career with the magazine. I wish her, and the publication, nothing but the best, and know I’ll be keeping up with all of its exciting developments as the years go by.
Signing off,
Olivia Hobson, The Planet Editor-in-Chief
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This year, The Planet has worked hard to keep our editors and staff safe while continuing to tell fantastic stories under various themes.
Winter of 2020, our last quarter of in-person classes before COVID-19, was also our last print issue before we moved all online for the time being. This was our “Movement” issue, produced under former Editor-in-Chief Alex Meacham. It features stories about movement of all kinds.
During winter, Alex also created The Planet’s new Voices section, which brings voices from outside of The Planet class into the publication. The public editor, a position created specifically for this section, reaches out to community members such as researchers and Huxley alumni for their stories.
In spring 2020, led again by Alex, we had our first all online class and all online publication. Although the transition was strange at first and we were sad that producing print copies wasn’t feasible, the “Hope/Coronavirus” issue was a huge success. Our reporters and photographers worked hard to report on hopefulness, the pandemic and, in some cases, both.
In fall 2020, under former Editor-in-Chief Olivia Marsh, we used a hybrid approach of meeting and working, where some reporters and editors would attend meetings in person (masked and socially distanced), while others attended via Zoom. This was another fantastic, albeit strange, quarter. We released the “Transformation” issue, full of stories about change.
In fall, Olivia also started work on The Planet’s statement on racism in journalism, an outline of our plan to work against the exclusion, bias and racism that both journalism and the environmental movement have historically struggled with. The statement was released in winter 2021.
The editors, reporters, photographers and videographers are currently working remotely on the “Relationships” issue of The Planet. We are also in the process of creating a new website.
Anna Thomas, The Planet Editor-in-Chief
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The Planet has continued to be a shining light in the world of Environmental Journalism. We pride ourselves on our continuing tradition of responsibly reported stories of the region and our environment. We’re especially excited to announce a special edition of The Planet which will include new kinds of stories and be distributed far wider than previous runs. This year is very hopeful for Planeteers because of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and Huxley College of the Environment. We’re going to be making this a very special issue of The Planet! Keep an eye out and pick up an issue in March!
Alex Meacham, winter 2020 Planet editor-in-chief
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For the Fall 2018 issue of The Planet, we decided to focus on something everyone can relate to: Food. Whether they are about the Lummi Nation restoring their salmon populations, or researchers finding ways to fight off a hungry stink bug population, we are happy to share creative and informative stories about how food and the environment are connected. During winter quarter, we will focus on climate change. Even though many of our stories end up coming back around to climate change, we figured it was time to dedicate an issue to it, exploring the effects and solutions that are present in our area.
The Planet continues to work on our social media presence and we have seen this pay-off as more readers interact with us and share our stories. Something that has helped with this has been creating extra content throughout the quarter. Rather than only producing the print magazine, we have started a blog section of our website that serves as a space to share shorter, environmentally focused stories that keep our audience engaged throughout the year. In future quarters, we aim to create and share more multimedia stories like videos and podcasts.
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The Planet started off the academic year with a strong magazine, themed “Education,” and continues to write stories that advocate for the environment with its current issue, “Conservation.” To keep within the constraints of our budget, The Planet is making efforts to focus on stories in northwestern Washington. This requires us to dig down to local roots, and, as a result, we are telling rich stories that are unique to our publication.
For the spring issue, The Planet is digging down to the deepest of roots: the roots of nature itself. Our next issue will be the “Sex” issue. We were inspired by Planet editions published well before our time that unveiled taboo topics with serious effects on the Earth. We plan to tell stories surrounding issues regarding plant and animal reproduction, environmental impacts of sex-related products and the human population as a whole.
We would like to widen our readership, and are working toward that goal by promoting a stronger social media presence and a heavier distribution of our print magazine. The Planet also has high hopes of receiving a 2017 journalism award, as it has consistently since 2011. Warren Cornwall remains as the adviser and now also teaches environmental journalism. With a talented,
consistent staff, The Planet is excited to begin the production of its slightly longer, slightly bolder spring issue.Keiko Betcher, editor-in-chief
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The Planet continued to produce important, high-quality environmental stories this year, focusing on innovation, resilience, politics and human health. Our reporters covered stories near and far – one of our reporters even went to Paris to cover the 2015 United Nations climate negotiations. Journalism and public relations major Yvonne Worden (Class of 2016) led the staff as editor-in-chief for the first part of the year. She was succeeded by Jesse Nichols, a junior studying visual journalism. Warren Cornwall joined The Planet as faculty adviser in fall 2015. Warren is a professional environmental journalist who has written for Science, Outside, The New York Times Magazine and High Country News. We expect another great year ahead at the Planet.
Jesse Nichols, fall editor-in-chief
Klipsun
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Klipsun may not have changed entirely, but it’s definitely trying on a new wardrobe this quarter.
The cover for Klipsun’s “Passion” edition. // Courtesy of Tyler Brown This quarter’s theme is “Passion,” something I chose early on in my hiring as editor-in-chief, and I’m happy to report that the stories we will be sharing are full of just that.
I took on many roles and responsibilities this quarter, but wouldn’t be able to do half of it if it weren’t for the support of my staff and working closely in tandem with the creative minds of our designer, photo editor and multimedia team.
Hiring two multimedia editors — Emily Bishop and Noah Harper — this quarter, we were able to prioritize a focus on roles to different people. This allowed for Bishop to focus on social media posts and organization and Harper to focus on content creation and management. Both multimedia editors wear the same hat but allow for different roles, and in doing so, the increase in followers and viewership at Klipsun is at an all-time high.
Our designer, Bella Coronado, found a color palette immediately and went with a simple, but impactful, design that carried over for not only the theme but the visual of the magazine as a whole. Following the initial message at the beginning of the quarter, we envision people igniting the wildfire in their hearts when it comes to passion. Bella found a way to manifest that in more ways than one.
All of us on staff have found one way or another to drive that passion into our body of work, and I can honestly say that it keeps a smile on our faces.
My favorite part of this quarter that I am very excited to share with everyone is the success on our social media. We have made fun, engaging videos with heart and silly, goofy fun that I know will connect with the broader audience at large.
Klipsun is changing in all kinds of exciting ways and I’m so excited for the world to see it.
Tyler Brown, Klipsun Editor-in-Chief
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The spring 2021 Klipsun edition will be the first to print since campus closed because of the pandemic. We are very excited to be taking on this venture and plan to distribute once students are back on campus.
Since the pandemic, the Klipsun has tackled themes such as Control, Pride and History. Our theme this quarter is “Empathy.” Writers are exploring what it means to be empathetic journalists. Readers will feel — cry, hurt, laugh — with the characters they discover in this issue.
We are working remotely this quarter, meeting twice a week for story groups, writer’s workshops and guest speakers. I have implemented Slack for communication, which is helping writers and editors communicate digitally. Like every team before us, we are increasing our online and social media presence amid the pandemic.
I have a vision of students finally returning to campus and picking up Klipsun’s “Empathy” edition just like the old days. I will be long and graduated, but I hope our work is enjoyed nonetheless.
Jaya Flanary, Klipsun Editor-in-Chief
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Winter quarter, Klipsun writers will explore what it means to be authentic, real and genuine. The Authenticity issue of Klipsun Magazine will encourage personal and unique stories and give a voice to those who we don’t normally hear in traditional media. We will also focus on improving Klipsun’s online presence through using alternative storytelling methods to elevate stories further.
Feel free to reach out or get in touch with us.Kristina Rivera,
Editor-in-Chief, winter 2019 quarter -
Fall quarter, Klipsun Magazine took a step back and refocused. Achieving a goal is almost never about a series of concrete steps. Success of any kind is attained through small, nearly imperceivable steps. Sometimes we go backward, sometimes we stop our journey entirely. There is no perfect way to navigate a river’s waters.
Such is the nature of any pursuit. In the winter edition of Klipsun, our writers dove into the essence of what drives an 80-year-old ultra-marathoner, the creativity of a Western alumna building her dream home and the realizations of a NCAA athlete closing his final chapter. In the January 2018 edition, readers will find stories about grit and self reflection. They will find stories about us.
If you would like to get in touch with us, our email is klipsunmag@gmail.com
Trish Patterson, editor in chief, fall 2018
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A lot has changed for me in the past year. Some of it was good, and some of it wasn’t. When thinking about the theme I wanted to choose for Klipsun Magazine, I wanted it to reflect the change I had gone through in my life and the change that many others have undoubtedly experienced in their own lives. In the winter issue of Klipsun, titled “Forward,” you will find stories of grief and loss, the relationship between old and new and discovering brightness in the midst of our weary journey. Each story in this collection encapsulates what it means to look toward the future. In the face of life’s seemingly in nite adversities, there is one constant: life goes on. ere is no turning back, what’s done is done. We all must decide which path we want to take, but all any of us can really do is move forward. Katherine Misel, fall editor-in-chief
The Front
From winter quarter of 2022 to winter quarter of 2023, The Front has undergone some big changes.
From being back in person for almost a full year, to our paper going international, as some staffers were able to work abroad thanks to The Front now being a digital-only newspaper, to a major lesson experienced by the fall 2022 staff, we are looking forward to learning from last year and finding more opportunities to improve!
With our staff this winter, we have more new than returning members, which is a big change from previous quarters!
This quarter as winter EIC, I alongside my Managing Editor, Madisun Tobisch, worked to make some big changes to The Front.
We have continued to fix and update our Guest Piece Policies and created a new position titled, “Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach Editor,” whose sole job is reaching out to underrepresented communities to create a safe and welcoming space where their stories can be heard and celebrated.
Our goals this quarter are to rebuild our relationship with our readers, create a strong and diverse team among our reporters and editors and continue to create good journalism.
The quarter has been off to a great start thanks to our extremely hardworking editors and our committed reporters. We have some big plans for the rest of the quarter, starting with some really cool investigative journalism.
We plan to continue to build The Front to be the great newspaper we know it can be and look forward to taking our readers with us on that journey.
Sincerely,
Elaina Johnson, The Front Editor-In-Chief, Winter 20223
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As historic and life-changing as 2020 was, 2021 has been equally significant for The Front.
In terms of what we’ve been up to, there is no short answer. We kicked off winter 2021, as former EIC Izzie Lund noted, with a set of protest policies for reporters and editors to learn from. Those protest policies that Izzie set up have continually been used by Front journalists.
In the spring of 2021, we rebranded from The Western Front to The Front. We’ve been through a lot of name changes as the student newspaper, from The Normal Messenger to The Collegian, and a variety of other names that have changed with the times. Former EIC Nate Sanford wrote a piece detailing the reasoning for the shift.
We also launched our new website, which has improved not only website views, but also the speed at which people can access news content. We began a podcast (that is available to listen to on Spotify, Buzzsprout, and various other services) to go deeper on stories of interest.
In addition, we started the process to create a community editorial board. The board’s purpose is to increase overall transparency and community engagement with the groups that we serve. We often hear student voices on campus, but more rarely do we get input from Bellingham community members.
Over the summer, the work to create a community editorial board continued as we reached out to more prominent groups and members to gain their opinions and voices on areas that they’re passionate about. In addition to that, we also revamped and began sending out a weekly newsletter (and if you’re not subscribed, you should be!).
In the fall of 2021, we said goodbye to Betsy O’Donovan as our faculty adviser and welcomed Kie Relyea as our new adviser. Kie’s experience and in-depth knowledge of Bellingham after being at The Bellingham Herald for over 20 years has been invaluable to reporters and the editorial team.
In addition to that, we got to open up the newsroom again. It was a time capsule, for lack of a better term: remnants of students and stories long gone covered every surface. None of the current staff or reporters had ever been in the newsroom or taken an in-person class from the Journalism Department. We found old food in the fridge, a coffee maker left on for over a year, and countless documents that we couldn’t previously access. Having the newsroom as not only a gathering space but also as a space to look at and learn about our history and the history of Western has been an experience we never could have given reporters and editors online.
That brings us to now, in the winter of 2022. What a year it’s been! We’ve been balancing the seemingly constant shifts between in-person and online learning and trying to keep reporters and editors safe. We have continually worked to create a community that pushes students and editors alike to think with an intersectional and anti-racist mindset in all that they do.
In terms of hiring, we took steps to advertise to all majors — not just journalism students. As an English major, I felt that the importance of having a variety of voices to reflect the student body was worth the extra training we would have to do. After advertising the positions for weeks, we ended up with over 50 candidates for 12 positions. We have students from a variety of majors — political science to theater, design to students in Fairhaven, and so many others. This variety has led to a more accepting and transparent editorial team, which has been essential as we continue our work on the community editorial board.
We shifted and added a few new positions this quarter as well. We added a year-long administrative assistant position that will help with the transition from quarter to quarter, which was one of the main complaints of former editorial teams. We shifted the sports editor position to focus not only on sports at Western, but also on local recreation. Lastly, we changed the opinion position to not only focus on managing the opinion section but also to work on continued outreach for the editorial board.
We are incredibly grateful to the people who have supported and worked with us in the past year through the shifts that COVID has brought. Reporters and editors alike have been able to pivot on a dime, which has made creating the community that The Front is so well-known and loved for just as it was in pre-COVID times. We are so excited to continue creating well-sourced and accurate stories and are looking forward to another year of growth, transparency, and learning for all those involved at The Front.
Be well,
Emily Bassett, The Front Editor-in-Chief
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It’s no secret: 2020 was, for better or for worse, a historic year. Likewise, it has been a very impactful and productive year for The Western Front.
In winter 2020, we started using Slack for the first time to coordinate newsroom communication. We have used it ever since and it has helped our newsroom out a lot, especially when we became entirely virtual in spring 2020.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in March 2020, the Front ran over spring break on a volunteer basis so we could report vital information about the pandemic. It marked the first time in a while that we were active between quarters.
Despite the pandemic and the shift to a virtual newsroom, spring 2020 saw a lot of positive changes for the Front. Editors started using AirTable to track stories, which helped us ensure articles weren’t falling through the cracks due to a lack of communication. We established weekly meetings with Paul Cocke, Western’s communications director, which increased the quality of our campus coverage because it was easier for him to relay important information to us and answer reporters’ questions.
We also shifted our campus lifestyle and city lifestyle beats into campus curiosities and city curiosities. This expanded the beats in the best way possible — instead of limitations in focusing exclusively on things like arts and culture, it allowed the people on those beats to adopt a general approach. These beats started acting like the public’s detective agency, going out of their way to track what people are curious about and how we can address those questions. Now we’re seeing better quality coverage and increased engagement with the community.
During the Black Lives Matter protests, the Front released a statement declaring that we stand by Black Lives Matter and acknowledging that we have work to do in terms of how we treat communities of color.
In June 2020, the Front began hiring editors anonymously, starting with the summer 2020 editing team. Candidates submitted their applications to faculty advisor Betsy O’Donovan, who anonymized their applications and submitted them to the editor-in-chief. We did this again when hiring editors for fall 2020 and winter 2021 with the goal of reducing implicit bias.
Along with changing up the hiring process, the summer 2020 editors made some major changes to our editorial policies. They required anonymous hiring and created a policy requiring every story to include the voice of someone directly affected by the issue discussed. For instance, a story about homelessness requires the reporter to include the voice of someone who has experienced homelessness. If the story covers a group of people, the story must include the voice of at least one person in that group. Another new policy requires reporters to ask how their sources would like to be identified and referred to if their identity is important to the story. In August 2020, they published this letter discussing these policy changes and how the newsroom would like to improve in working with underrepresented groups.
In fall 2020, we focused on elections coverage. We used Hearken’s Citizens Agenda to inform our reporting, which emphasizes community engagement. A small team of reporters and editors covered local and state races during the chaos of the 2020 election, focusing on delivering the breaking news in real time as part of our effort to develop the Front as a reliable, professional news source for the whole community, not just the campus.
In winter 2021, we took further steps to remove bias from our hiring process. We started using this rubric to create a points system so the editor-in-chief and managing editor had objective criteria to screen candidates. We did this in the hopes of further eliminating bias when hiring editors. The rubric is a work in progress, although we are going to do our best to ensure objective criteria are used in the hiring process going forward.
We also created a copy chief position, which allowed us to have a central newsroom expert on all things style, grammar, spelling and punctuation. The copy chief runs the copy desk, which also means we have three copy editors in winter 2021 instead of the usual two. They’re also tasked with publishing articles to our website, which was traditionally handled by the multimedia/online editor. By making copy in charge of publishing, we freed up our social media/online editor’s time to come up with creative ways to promote our stories and engage with our community.
In winter 2021, we created a new Instagram and started conducting polls on our Instagram stories to further engage with our audience. We also started doing editor takeovers and introduction videos, where the editors would appear on our Instagram stories, introduce themselves and answer any questions the community had about the Front. Our social media/online editor, Ryan Morris, provides a weekly update on our digital engagement efforts, experiments and offers tips for how the entire newsroom can help readers learn to turn to the Front.
We’re also in the process of writing protest guidelines for our newsroom, with input from Erin Ailworth at the Wall Street Journal, Barbara Allen at Poynter, our faculty adviser, Professor Betsy O’Donovan, ethics Professor Joan Connell and visual journalism Professor Joe Gosen, that will allow our reporters to cover protests safely, accurately and ethically. We look forward to making these guidelines public by the end of winter 2021.
We have also noticed some overall trends from our newsroom in the past year. One of these is a dramatic increase in the urgency of our breaking news coverage. Between Black Lives Matter, the 2020 elections and Camp 210, we believe we’re getting much better at balancing timeliness and ethics when covering breaking news. We have been better at engaging with the community, reaching out to underrepresented groups, and increasing diversity in our newsroom — although we recognize we still have a long way to go.
The sports beat, in particular, has dramatically changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since there have been almost no games, the sports beat shifted away from game coverage and instead, focused on stories such as athlete profiles, sports history and how people are staying connected to the sports world during the pandemic.
We also published several high-quality investigative pieces over the past year, which can be found here, here, here, here and here.
To top it all off, we’ll be launching our new website in spring 2021!
We are grateful for all of the extraordinary changes the past year has brought us, and all of the people who made these changes possible. We look forward to another year with abundant opportunity to learn, grow and serve our community.
Sincerely,
Izzie Lund, Editor-in-Chief
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It’s an exciting time for The Western Front – this campus newspaper of record is in a state of flux as we figure out how to effectively develop a strong legacy that can be sustained and passed off through different quarters, as well as improve the pre-professional aspects of the newspaper for students. In winter quarter, we changed our editor structure to include more specific beat positions focused on city news, campus life, WWU administration and sports. We will be shifting those positions around slightly during spring quarter to make sure our coverage continues to be comprehensive, focused and detailed. Our campus is adapting and changing, with major changes taking place in student governance and an incredible amount of student-led organizing pushing Western to be better; similarly, we at the Front are trying to adapt to the needs of our campus.
Laura Place
Editor in Chief, winter 2019 quarter -
This is a time of change for The Western Front, and the editors are rising to meet it with innovation and a rethinking of traditional methods. The most exciting news is that we secured a budget increase and higher stipends for our editors, which makes this valuable experience more accessible to students. We are going into winter quarter with a slightly smaller staff than usual, but to accommodate, we are focusing on prioritizing our goals and increasing collaboration. We will continue publishing a weekly paper, but hope to put more time and resources to strengthening our online presence. More and more, we are seeing readers come to our website from social media, and we want to adapt to better serve the public with timely, accessible coverage. I also believe this shift to online-first will better prepare journalism students for their careers and that they will benefit from our growing collaboration with other departments on campus.
While there will be changes in how we do things, the mission of the Front stays the same: We strive to get it first and, more importantly, get it right. We will continue to hold power accountable and give voice to the voiceless, and we see our increasing online focus as amplifying our ability to do so. My staff would love to hear from you if you have feedback or advice at westernfrontonline@gmail.com.
Asia Fields, winter quarter editor-in-chief
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The Western Front continues to thrive. The end of fall quarter marks one year since the Front has gone down to one issue a week. With that, we have been able to focus on refining writing skills and putting our energies toward producing investigative pieces throughout the quarter. I feel like the Front has grown a lot and is a product to be reckoned with. We still are trying to keep up with the ever-changing way people receive news and with that we are trying new things with our website and multimedia pieces.
Elizabeth Kayser, fall editor-in-chief
PRSSA
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The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) is a nationwide society of 10,000+ Public Relations students sorted into 300+ chapters at universities across the country. Western’s PRSSA chapter aims to prepare students in a variety of majors (journalism, business, communications) for life after graduation by hosting workshops, guest speakers, and networking events.
This year, WWU PRSSA focused on the power of networking. As much of the workforce has turned virtual, we sought to provide students with the resources and tools they need to be able to network their way into a job they love – and to be able to do it all virtually.
We had two signature events this year: Washington State Schools Networking Event and PR Connections 2021. The Washington State Schools Networking Event was a virtual networking event between students of the University of Washington’s PRSSA chapter, Washington State University’s PRSSA chapter, and WWU PRSSA. We had 28 students show up across three schools who networked in a series of breakout rooms with each other. We learned that there is value in networking not only with professionals, but with peers, too, because the people in your classroom today could be the coworkers or managers at your job tomorrow.
The second event, PR Connections 2021, was certainly the highlight of our year. This was a virtual networking event between students at the three Washington State schools mentioned previously and 12 professionals from the Greater Seattle Area. These professionals came from companies like Amazon, Edelman, Alaska Airlines, WE Communications, and more. Hosted by WWU PRSSA, this event was aimed to let students connect with professionals in the PR and communications fields to learn about their careers, ask for advice, and overall gain a mentor they can reach out to in the future. This event was an absolute success with tons of positive feedback, so it’s likely there will be a “part two” soon!
We look forward to finishing out the year with another virtual networking event and hosting a few more guest speakers – and we would love to have you join us! If you’re interested in joining PRSSA, please reach out to wwuprssa@gmail.com! All majors, all class standings, and all people are welcome!Best,MackenziePresident, WWU PRSSA -
Western’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) works to prepare students in communication and business fields for the workforce. This year we provided resume, LinkedIn, networking, interviewing and blogging workshops so students could prepare for post-grad.
In the spring, we brought together a film panel to discuss creating and promoting motion pictures. As well as, collaborating with the Digital Media Center to publicize the annual 48-hour film festival. We also hosted our annual alumni mixer where previous WWU grads met with current students to discuss tips and tricks for excelling in the professional sphere.
Overall, it has been another inspiring year full of making connections and gaining experience. Our goal for next year is to host more guest speakers and continue our quarterly PR tours to gain wisdom before graduation and acquire the connections necessary for our members to land the jobs of their dreams.
Alyssa Bruce, PRSSA chapter president
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Western’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter is strengthening members in their abilities to network, securing internships and jobs and learning from professionals of all backgrounds. This year we hosted speakers such as Linda Dahlstrom, the Director of Storytelling for Starbucks Corporation; Brian Seales, the creative director for local marketing, branding and design company Ketchup + Mustard; and Jacque Coe, the President of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Puget Sound Chapter. We hosted many workshops for students to further their materials and skills this year such as an interview workshop with mock interviews, resume workshops, LinkedIn workshops, an alumni mixer to learn from past members about post-graduation and we hope to have a more workshops, panels and mixers as well.
We believe students and journalism faculty are most excited about our professional agency tours. In 2018 we toured around 12 professional agencies and received valuable advice from each team about school, internships, upstarting careers, as well physically touring each workplace. In 2019 we toured The Fearey Group, GreenRubino and Starbucks Headquarters which provided us with our first in-house PR tour.
In April 2018, four of our members attended PRSA North Pacific District conference in Seattle where we volunteered in exchange for free admission. For Western’s PRSSA chapter, this was the first conference in a couple years and members who attended were left inspired and incredibly thankful for the experiences the conference had provided for them. In the future we hope to attend more conferences like this and hopefully raise enough funds to travel and attend the national conferences to come. Our main goals for the future are to broaden tour locations, host more speakers, grow memberships and attend more conferences.
Jessica Vangel
PRSSA chapter co-president -
WWU PRSSA chapter is currently planning trips to Seattle to tour PR agencies, which offers members a valuable opportunity to network. We are in the midst of our speaker series, which will last through spring quarter. On the topic of blogging, we were fortunate to have Annette Bagley from Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism present to us about her team of bloggers for Bellingham tourism. It was a very informational and fun meeting, and we hope to bring in more professionals like this in the quarters to come.
We are also working out the logistics of attending regionals in Fullerton, California, and nationals next year in Austin, Texas, both of which would be great opportunities for our members. If you’d like to connect with us, or serve as a future presenter, please write to us at wwuprssa@gmail.com
Jessica Niles and Jessica Vangel, co-presidents
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This year, WWU PRSSA is continuing to grow within the Western community. Fall quarter brought in new faces and opportunities for club member growth in more ways than one. We currently have 12 registered members and about 10 drop-in members who come to gatherings regularly. Individually, members took advantage of our resume and cover letter workshops to sharpen their personal brand. WWU PRSSA consistently holds fundraising bake sales every two weeks to supply our club funds. We have four members participating in the PRSSA Mentorship Program, which helped us kick o winter quarter. We’ve continued to hold webinars and workshops, such as LinkedIn How-To and Blogging with Style. WWU PRSSA is also in the midst of planning PR agency tours and networking opportunities. If you are a PR alumnus and are interested in connecting with us, please send an email to wwuprssa@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Katherine Misel WWU PRSSA chapter president
SPJ
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Despite the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, the WWU Society of Professional Journalists chapter has continued to host events that prepare students for the professional world, impart the importance of ethics and build a sense of community in the journalism department.
In spring of 2021, that meant hosting an internship panel with local publications, department advisors and fellow journalism students with internship experience. Through this event, our members got answers to their most pressing internship questions and networked with editors at Whatcom Watch and Bellingham Alive. Oftentimes, searching for and securing an internship is one of the most stressful parts of the program, so we focus a lot of our events around demystifying it.
Fall quarter brought a flurry of excitement as the university prepared for a return to in-person learning. We had the wonderful opportunity to partner with Western’s Publication Relations Student Society of America chapter to lead an event on building a strong LinkedIn profile. Assistant professor Betsy O’Donovan was also gracious enough to present at our Cover Letters and Cocoa workshop where many members left with letters strong enough for internship applications. Our chapter also had the pleasure of hearing Mike Hiestand of the Student Press Law Center, professor Carolyn Nielsen and associate professor Peggy Watt speak about legal protections for student journalists.
Although this quarter has brought a flurry of challenges, our chapter is committed to planning consistent and thoughtful events. While Western moved back online, we held a virtual resume workshop with associate professor Maria McLeod. We’re also partnering with Western’s newly formed National Press Photographer Association to hold a headshot clinic for all our members.
As always, we’re grateful for the guidance associate professor Watt continually gives to the club and the officer board. Her commitment to supporting this chapter is a constant source of inspiration.
As we look toward the future, our chapter plans to strengthen our connection to other SPJ chapters in the state and region while empowering our members as they move toward graduation.
If you’d like to learn more about our club, email wwuspj@gmail.com to join the mailing list or find us on the Western Involvement Network.
Sincerely,
The SPJ Officer Board
Kaleigh Carroll, Nikki Wasmuth and Jacob O’Donnell
wwuspj@gmail.com -
Throughout lockdowns, countless quarantines and all the other uncertainties of the past year, the WWU SPJ chapter has striven to provide critical information and support to all our members.
In fall quarter, that meant hosting an internship workshop with Western’s journalism faculty, advisors and alumni to provide insight for students beginning the often stressful search for internships. We also hosted a cover letter workshop led by journalism Professor and advisor to The Western front, Betsy O’Donovan. We capped off the quarter with a simple “destress” meeting, where members and officers vented, laughed and prepared for finals week.
Our chapter was also honored with the Outstanding Campus Chapter award for region 10 this year.
Throughout winter quarter, our chapter focused on hosting panels that would give our members valuable analysis of current events while providing key networking opportunities. Our first panel focused on breaking down coverage of the Jan. 6 capitol insurrection while discussing the ethical considerations journalists have to make in those intense situations. Western journalism professors Joan Connell, Betsy O’Donovan, Joe Gosen and Peggy Watt contributed to what was an insightful analysis.
In our most recent panel, Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times, Jerry Cornfield of The Daily Herald, Amy Harder of Breakthrough Energy, Amy Radil of KUOW and Melissa Santos of Crosscut spoke about their experiences reporting on politics in a post-Trump era.
As we look toward the future, our chapter plans to strengthen our connection to other SPJ chapters in the state and region while continuing to empower our members as they move toward graduation.
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The SPJ Officer Board: Nick Baca, Kaleigh Carroll, Jacob Pederson, Mazey Servin
Sincerely,Kaleigh Carroll -
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Western Washington University’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. While celebrating this milestone, the club is working on building up a solid foundation for the club to continue forward. The Society has hosted talks about fellowships, internships, resumes and cover letters during fall quarter. For the rest of the school year, they hope to bring more professionals into the classroom to give students examples of opportunities and experiences from journalists in the field. The club will also be traveling to the Society of Professional Journalists regional conference in Seattle.
Mysti Willmon, SPJ co-president
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Western’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter is working to increase and maintain its presence both at Western and the greater Washington state journalism community. Early winter quarter 2018, we hosted a panel on naming public memorials, which was open to the public and included prominent journalists, historians, public officials and students. In Fall 2017, we hosted a dissertation presentation by Associate Professor Carolyn Nielsen.
We are also working to emphasize skill building for student journalists through workshops and presentations. Some specific examples of subjects we plan to delve into as a club include use of LinkedIn, covering breaking news, developing social media practices and finding a field internship. We are always happy to host local journalists, especially WWU alumni and professors. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime if you’re interested in being involved with the club. We’d love to hear from you, wwuspj@gmail.com
Alyssa Evans, WWU SPJ president