One thing I have learned in my three years at USAO is that time flies by. It feels like not that long ago I was a freshman who was scared to speak up and hadn’t written anything journalistic. In present day, I am officially Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of The Trend, and it’s been hard to grasp.
As a freshman, I was introduced to The Trend by former EIC Emily Loughridge. Loughridge knew me as a communication major and told me that The Trend was a great way to get ahead in my portfolio and sharpen my writing abilities. Since then, I have come to enjoy writing on a variety of topics for The Trend including Drover sports, campus-oriented stories, and opinion pieces.
Following my sophomore year, I started an internship at the Lawton Constitution, a daily newspaper, where I strengthened my writing abilities tenfold. My bosses and fellow writers at the Constitution treated me with great respect and helped me learn a lot about the journalism field.
Coming back from my internship and into the first semester of my junior year, Loughridge was handing over the keys to The Trend to the now former EIC Gary Jackson. When Jackson became EIC he gave me the responsibility of being the Sports Editor, and with that came a new sense of pride. I wanted to see The Trend be the best it can be, and I wanted to do anything I could to help with that. Of course, I’m not perfect, and it took some time for me to get an understanding of what it means to be an editor. I’m confident in my abilities now, although, I still don’t think I have it down 100 percent. The way I see it is that there’s always room for improvement.
Jackson told me in late February that I’d likely be taking over his EIC position when he graduated in the spring. Honestly, this made me nervous. Luckily for me, I am surrounded by a great team of editors and writers who are going to help in producing articles every week. Without their help, I would be lost and in a constant state of panic.
I want to say a special thank you to the editors who will be helping me keep the ship afloat:
- Thomas Buchannan, Entertainment Editor
- Whitley Brown, Feature Editor
- Cassie Srock, News Editor
We want to be able to share all the amazing things going on at USAO with our readers and we appreciate everyone who shows support to The Trend.
My goal as EIC is to connect USAO. Our campus might be small, but there are constantly improvements being made, events being held, teams hitting the field, etc. that don’t get the attention they deserve. I want The Trend to be able to be a source for all things USAO, and that starts with the students themselves. As a student-produced newspaper, it’s important to me that The Trend continues to support the students at USAO in every way and I am thankful to be put in the position that I am in.
Going forward, The Trend will continue having our weekly meetings on Mondays at 5 p.m. in the Nash Library Music Pocket until the end of the semester. When we come back to campus in the fall, we will likely pick a new time for our weekly meetings based on what works best for our staff. The Trend meetings are not exclusive, anyone is welcome!
We will continue posting to our website and social media pages with new articles weekly. As summer approaches, article posting may slow down, but still expect new stories from the staff every week.
With that being said, make sure to follow The Trend on all of our socials to stay up to date!
- Instagram – @thetrendusao
- Facebook – The Trend
- X – @thetrend_usao
- YouTube – thetrendusao
I sincerely hope you’ve had a good week, Drovers. Either way, next week is going to be a better one!
Matthew Yokum is a third-year communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
