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I had a chance to brag about my wonderful
newspaper staff during the 41st annual LCC Student Recognition
Celebration, held Saturday, May 3 at the West Campus.
Following are excerpts from the speech I gave
to about 300 people during the awards ceremony. It serves as a
nice summary of the 2007-08 publication year for our college
newspaper:
The 2007-08 school year was a monumental one for
The Lookout staff.
With only two people returning from the previous
year’s staff, we faced a challenging year. But thankfully, we
had a very capable editor, Zane McMillin, to lead the transition
period. Under Zane’s leadership, everyone on the staff caught on
quickly to the technology and tricks of the journalism trade.
We had many big stories to cover this past year,
including LCC’s 50th anniversary, the opening of the University
Center and the search for a new LCC president. I thought our
staff handled these stories very professionally and thoroughly.
On Feb. 1 and 2 our staff traveled to the Amway
Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids to attend the Michigan Press
Association’s annual convention. While there, we accepted 18
Michigan Press Association awards for journalistic excellence.
On April 5, our staff attended the Michigan
Community College Press Association’s Press Day at Monroe County
Community College. During this event, The Lookout staff earned
13 awards from a panel of professional newspaper judges,
including three first-place honors. Our total of 13 awards more
than doubled our total from the previous year.
One of our biggest accomplishments this past year
was launching the new Lookout website that includes new content
not found in our printed newspaper. This is a huge step in the
history of The Lookout, as technology dictates that we move
toward a web-first philosophy to keep up with the changing face
of journalism.
Our new website allows us to report breaking
stories in a timely fashion, instead of having to wait up to two
weeks for publication in our printed newspaper.
The website is still in its infant stage. Next
year, we will work to build up both web content and web
readership, so pass the word.
This fall, as many as six of our eight editors
will return to the staff. This should make for a smooth
transition into a new school year as The Lookout will begin its
50th year of publication. We will mark that monumental occasion
in our first issue on Aug. 25.
I would like to present awards to our 2007-08
staff members for their hard work and dedication to The Lookout
during the past school year:
Office Manager/Webmaster Rachel Bogle
– Without a doubt, Rachel is the best office manager I have had
on staff in my four years as adviser of The Lookout. She has
been a vital cog in getting our new website up and running.
Fortunately, Rachel will return this fall to help us take the
next step with our website.
Sales Manager Kara Swanson
– Kara goes above and beyond her job description to help the
staff succeed. She is organized, personable and professional.
Most importantly, she sells lots of ads, and I have never had a
single complaint from a client about the way she does her job.
I’m glad to report that Kara will be back on staff again next
year.
Photo Editor Rachel Harper
– Rachel showed great improvement throughout the
past year in her photos, particularly her photo essays. She is a
creative person and makes herself available whenever and
wherever she is needed to get photos for The Lookout. We expect
Rachel to return as our photo editor this fall.
Sports Editor Heather Burton
– Heather did a nice job keeping things timely for The Lookout
sports section. Heather is also an accomplished photographer,
which made her a versatile staff member. She earned first place
in the MCCPA competition for a “News Photo” of fireworks over
the Capitol during Silver Bells in the City.
A & E Editor Jaclyn Masterson
– Jaclyn joined the staff halfway through the fall semester and
did a good job covering LCC and area A & E happenings. She plans
to major in journalism, and will likely be the news editor for
The Lookout this fall.
News Editor David Barker
– Here’s a guy who is never afraid to let you know how he feels.
David made a name for himself by closely analyzing and
critiquing the actions of the LCC Board of Trustees. What
sometimes goes unnoticed is the way David covered hard news – in
a very balanced, impartial way. He understands the difference
between a news story and an editorial, which is very important.
We hope David will return in the fall to be our associate
editor, but he is still weighing other offers – perhaps from
CNN?
Managing Editor Rich Tupica
– In many ways I considered Rich the leader of the staff this
year. Rich left his imprint in every area of the newspaper –
sports, news, A & E, editorial, circulation and photography. He
deeply cares about the success of The Lookout. He works well
with staff writers, has a good rapport with his adviser and has
many ideas to improve the paper next year. I am happy to
announce that Rich will be The Lookout’s editor in chief this
coming fall. Congratulations, Rich!
Editor Zane McMillin
– Zane just completed his second year with The Lookout. He was
the glue that brought the staff together last fall, when we
welcomed so many newcomers. Zane is an excellent reporter who
always gets his facts straight and gets both sides of the story.
He is far and away the best editorial writer The Lookout has had
since I have been adviser. In fact, he is the best editorial
writer I have worked with in my 28 years in journalism. Thanks
for all your hard work Zane. And I hope you know I have learned
a lot from you, about a lot of things.
Now I would like to announce the winner of The
Lookout “Employee of the Year” award. This is the fourth year of
this award’s existence. It is given annually to the person who
has shown the most dedication and journalistic integrity while
working for the college newspaper.
An individual plaque is given to the winner of
the award, and another plaque will be mounted on the wall in The
Lookout office. The office plaque is updated each year to
include the name of the new recipient.
This year, we had several worthy employees. In
fact the choice was so tough that for the first time, I asked
the staff to assist me with the selection process this year.
Based on the staff’s input, along my day-to-day
observations, this year’s “Employee of the Year” is Rich Tupica.
Congratulations, Rich!
Larry Hook is a graduate of Lansing Community
College and Michigan State University, with a degree in
journalism. He has been adviser of The Lookout since the summer
of 2004. |
