By Matthew Acosta, Aug. 29, 2023
As I sat down in my first journalism class in high school, I felt all the doubts one feels when trying something new and hoping it can lead to somewhere.
A month into the class, I was hooked. Writing articles, recording the school news and putting together video packages felt like something I could enjoy doing for the rest of my life because of the unique stories I was able to tell about my peers.
Fast forward to March 23 of this year, I received an email informing me that I would be the next editor in chief of The Poly Post.
Almost as quickly as my excitement came, it left. I immediately understood the responsibility and work this position requires.
Going into the summer and meeting with my upcoming staff I discovered just how much passion and enthusiasm each person has.
Our News section, now run by Christie Counts, hopes to make use of video stories to better depict an article and make major campus news and safety announcements as quickly and as accurately as possible.
The Arts & Culture section, led by Charlize Althea Garcia, will cover a variety of topics that capture the artistic and human interest affairs of today’s society while highlighting campus culture and talent.
Sports has been a staple section for The Poly Post, providing game previews and recaps to the student body to keep up with our Broncos. This year, our sports editor, Christian Malone, hopes to give the campus community more in-depth coverage of our student-athletes through video profiles and our podcasting.
Our copyediting team featuring Taylor Jaseph and Tessa Dufore will be entering in their second year together working on making sure each article is carefully anyalized for correct grammar and AP style.
With video content being a distinct area of focus, Video Editor, Billy Huang will be putting together new and creative ideas to revamp our Poly Post now news recap to engage the campus community like never before.
Victoria Mejicanos will be our incoming web editor, setting her sights on improving the overall website and social media posts by testing out new styles of graphics and ways to get information out to the community efficently.
This year La Voz de Pomona, led by Fabiola Aceves, our online spanish language blog will head into their second official year and look to continue tell stories about Latino culture and happenings around campus.
The Poly Post marketing team will also be sharing advertising opportunities across campus and looking for innovative ways to engage our campus community in news.
Giving Cal Poly Pomona students a platform to voice their stories is my biggest hope for this upcoming year and I fully encourage any and all students who have something to say to reach out to The Poly Post. I will do my best to make sure your concerns are heard, your stories shared and your acheivments celebrated.
Being a student-run, independent news organization is an amazing opportunity with the ability to have the freedom to hold those in power accountable and tell the stories of the people who feel voiceless on our campus. We strive to do this as accurately and as quickly as possible to keep the campus community in the loop of everything that happens behind closed doors.
The unique stories that come about when writing for a university will never cease to amaze me. With stories of triumph and stories of loss, there are always interesting things going on around campus and my goal for my team is to find as many of those stories as possible.
We hope to take The Poly Post to the next level and into the future of journalism through the use of video packages and podcasting, which can provide a new way for viewers of the Post to consume our media.
My team and I are ecstatic about this upcoming year, and I cannot wait to tell all of the campus community stories.
Stay tuned for more updates from The Poly Post this upcoming year as we strive to tell your stories, achievements and experiences with accuracy and empathy.
Feature image by Victoria Mejicanos
