Student Media leaders announced

By Sarah Hansell, Staff Writer -- hansell14@up.edu

Next year's editor in chief of The Beacon, junior Elizabeth Tertadian, has been part of The Beacon since she set foot on campus - from being a reporter her freshman year, to having the position of design specialist created expressly for her, to being design editor this year.

"The Beacon has been part of my life since the beginning, and I am really excited to finish my year out as editor in chief," she said. "I think we have a really good staff so I think we'll have a good year," she said.

As a reporter, Tertadian missed being part of the design process, which she experienced as editor in chief of her high school newspaper for two years.

"I love the whole newspaper and seeing it all come together, and being the editor in chief allows me to have a finger on everything that goes on," she said.

As for next year, Tertadian hopes to do more investigative reporting, build better relationships with administration and shift the focus of the sports section from only game coverage to include more sports-related news.

"Other than that, we're doing a great job right now, so I want to continue to build on that," she said.

Tertadian looks forward to being editor in chief of a publication that is extremely relevant and important for students, she says.

"I think The Beacon is one of the most important student groups on campus because we are the voice of the students, not just on campus but off campus," she said. "I think because of that, we are really influential and therefore have great presence on campus."

Jana Peters: KDUP General Manager

KDUP's general manager for next year, junior Jana Peters, has been working with KDUP since her freshman year when she and junior Allie Beck started deejaying "We Will Never Be Professionals," their very own radio show featuring Americana and folk music and hip-hop.

"I just really love music so I thought it was a good idea to have a radio show where all I wanted to do was talk about music, because that's kind of how I live my everyday life anyway," Peters said.

Peters has been part of KDUP ever since, getting to know the station and the styles of the rest of the KDUP team - as a DJ her freshman and sophomore years and as a program director this year.

"I think radio is an incredible way to connect with people, and I think we forget that," she said. "A lot of the time we don't have that in our lives."

When it came time to apply for general manager, Peters said she just thought it was a good idea.

"I just really like working there, and I thought I could do a really good job with the station as general manager," she said.

Next year Peters plans to continue the station's work making KDUP a household name by publicizing the station more and have more specific shows, rather than mixes of many different styles in one show.

"I think that next year I'm going to totally try to continue with the upward trend of KDUP ... and make it so people on campus want to start listening to our radio station instead of ignoring the fact that we have one," she said.

- Sarah Hansell

Lauren Seynhaeve: Editor in chief of The Log

Next year junior Lauren Seynhaeve will return as editor in chief of The Log for fall semester. Since she is graduating a semester early, a new editor in chief will be hired for the spring semester, who has not been announced yet.

"I'm excited to be able to be a part of one more yearbook, and I hope I can prep the editor who succeeds me well," she said.

Besides being the current editor in chief, Seynhaeve has been involved in a variety of different media outlets. She was a reporter and design assistant for The Beacon during her freshman year and helped produce a yearbook for the Salzburg year program, which she attended her sophomore year.

"I'm excited to use everything I've learned with my staff, and I hope they can take that excitement and use it toward their own journalistic futures," she said.

Next year Seynhaeve aspires to make The Log more known around campus. Her goal this year was to have half the student body mentioned in the yearbook, which she thinks they have not met.

"I would like to really focus on getting people's faces and names in the book next year," she said.

However, Seynhaeve is worried that the quality of the yearbook will suffer because The Log is being moved into a smaller room that is hidden at the end of a hallway.

"I really hope that student media is a continued valued asset to the University, and I hope that we can produce a good enough book that they see our value on campus," she said.

-Sarah Hansell