This will be one of the last articles I write for The Lamron, after writing almost every week for the past four years. I’ve written almost 100 articles, estimating around 80,000 total words. Not to mention that each article required countless hours of interviews and research.
For the past two years, I’ve spent around 20 hours a week writing, editing, interviewing and leading the executive board as Managing Editor last year, and Editor in Chief this year. That’s about 1,000 hours of my life revolving around The Lamron during the last two years.
Being in The Lamron dominated my college life, but I don’t regret even a second I spent being part of it. Without this newspaper, I would have been lost as to who I was, and what I wanted to do with my life, so this is my plea for you to join the “Lam Fam.”
It would be easy to sit here and say I gave all this time and energy to the newspaper, but honestly, I will be forever grateful that The Lamron gave me the opportunity to spend my time on something important.
The Lamron gave me 80,000 words of experience writing for a legitimate weekly newspaper with a substantial readership. It gave me 1,000 hours of management, teamwork, and conflict mediation experience. Most importantly, The Lamron made me realize that I love journalism.
If I had never begrudgingly written a news article for a friend my freshman year, I would have never found out how passionate I am about finding the truth and informing others about the issues going on in our community.
I know The Lamron often seems intimidating, but I promise that joining changed my life. I’ve met and became friends with so many people that would have never been in my life if it weren’t for The Lamron. Our staff is a team through and through, and even our alumni are always there to help us—especially me because I’ve made several panicked phone calls to them for help over the last year.
The Lamron is fully student-run, and one of very few opportunities to truly get hands-on experience in written journalism that Geneseo has to offer. We often get a lot of hate that we’re just some “lame student newspaper”, but we cover important topics, and I have spent the last four years working to bring awareness of community issues to the public. We are a real newspaper that covers real topics—your work at The Lamron matters.
You also may get concerned about articles causing controversy, but honestly, real journalism causes conversations because it gives the community information to evaluate and discuss. These stories are meant to spur dialogues, and we’re here to report the facts.
Investigative journalism is where I feel at home because I get to connect with people while working on pieces for months at a time. Sure, sometimes I get some nasty emails calling me incompetent, but it’s worth it for every time because I’ve seen policy changes or dialogues happen because of something I created.
I now have to leave and go navigate life after college—I’m in one of the scariest places to be in life, and yet, I’m not all that worried. The Lamron has prepared me for just about any challenge I will face; I want you to come take on those challenges and bring new ideas to our paper. The Lamron grows and changes with each new writer and editor and I can’t wait to see how it evolves after I graduate.
So here I am, asking you to write, because I know you can do it. I know college is hard, and stressful, and this seems like just another daunting task, but I have learned more from The Lamron than all the classes I’ve taken combined. It’s worth it, and you deserve to join our family of dedicated, passionate people.
Hit us up on Instagram or Twitter: @thelamron or email us at lamron@geneseo.edu if you’re interested in joining.
Kara Burke is an International Relations major alumna, who is currently crying thinking about saying goodbye to The Lamron office.