After winning a NSPA Pacemaker and a CSPA Gold Crown, The Feather is extending an invitation to join its ranks to campus student body. With most of the staff graduating this year, the journalism program seeks to fill in the shoes of its editors and staff writers.

The Feather staff will be holding an orientation for all students at lunch that are interested in joining the class next year. Be sure to attend the orientation this Friday at lunch in Kori Friesen’s room 602, April 22.

At the orientation, Kori Friesen joined with the Editors-in-Chief, will explain to students why it is beneficial to join The Feather. Co-Editor-in-Chief Rees Roggenstein is hoping to find students who are driven to succeed during the meeting.

“The Feather is holding a meeting to encourage students to join journalism,” Roggenstein said. “We’ll be talking about what it’s like to be on staff and the positives of the work. One of the most important benefits is that The Feather offers students a chance to compete on a national level, which diversifies their scholastic portfolio. As long as students are willing to pursue excellence they will thrive as members of this team.”

The staff and advisers will share ideas, expectations and options for students to get involved. There are many openings and places for students to engage. These include staff writers, photographers, videographers and specialists for social media and many other positions.

Journalism adviser, Greg Stobbe, is looking forward to the newcomers joining the publications program. While Stobbe expects his staff to compete at the highest level every year, he acknowledges that it is the staff’s decision of whether they want to commit to a level of excellence.

“We are losing about half of the staff, so we are really looking for folks who want to join The Feather,” Stobbe said. “The expectations every year is that we will compete and be a solid campus newspaper, but it comes down to whether the staff decides that they want to be competitive as well. The Feather is a team just like any other sport. The staff relies on each other, supports each other and we go out and do fun stuff together.”

Considering joining the program, Suky Cheema plans to attend the meeting on Friday. Cheema hopes journalism will prepare and help him in college.

“I’m looking forward to learning more about The Feather, I have been interested in joining since the beginning of the year,” Cheema said. “I was thinking about doing video journalism, but I am still deciding whether that’s the right thing for me to do. Right now, I am just taking TA classes, and I want to something more that can help me out for college. I think that The Feather can help me out in college.”

If you are interested in joining The Feather staff next year, please come to the  orientation meeting this Friday in room 602. Come with questions and interview current staff members to see if joining publications team is for you. For more information, please contact adviser Greg Stobbe at his email: [email protected].

For more articles, please read EDITORIAL: Journalists evolve moral qualities, hone ethics.