University President Fr. Mark Poorman has appointed Rachel Rippetoe editor-in-chief of The Beacon for the 2017-18 academic year.
Rippetoe is currently living editor and was a Beacon reporter her freshman and sophomore years. She looks forward to fostering a fun and collaborative environment for the staffers.
“I want to work on making sure the staff itself is bonded and likes what they’re doing,” Rippetoe said. “The way that we get the staff to produce such amazing things has come from having this environment that makes The Beacon fun and makes it something people want to invest in and work hard for.”
Rippetoe enjoys creating multimedia elements for stories, and looks to continue that digital development in The Beacon’s second year as an all-digital publication.
She interned last summer as a digital marketing intern at RFDTV, a cable channel aimed at rural America, and spent her freshman year interning at the Portland Radio Project.
This summer she will spend 10 weeks at the Eugene Register-Guard as a general assignment intern for the Charles Snowden internship program.
“With my new internship I’m hoping it will help me have an eye for good writing and good reporting,” said Rippetoe who is the first UP student to ever intern at the Register-Guard. “I think I get better at that with every experience I have. I am by no means an expert, but I am hoping to improve further and to be able to help other people.”
Faculty and staff on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Student Media, led by Athletic Director Scott Leykam, recommended Rippetoe to Poorman, who affirmed the decision.
“Our subcommittee was extremely impressed with what Rachel has done at The Beacon the past three years,” said Leykam. “She has done an impressive job both producing content and building key relationships across every corner of campus. In addition, we felt her ideas to recruit and retain Beacon staff could take the publication to the next level.”
Nancy Copic, assistant director of student media at UP and adviser to The Beacon, said Rippetoe has been an asset to the Beacon since day one, bringing new ideas and a unique writing voice to her work.
“Rachel is an idea machine,” said Copic. “Her internship this summer can only help her develop more as a journalist and a leader and I think (The Beacon) will benefit from that.”
Her first act was appointing current Opinions Editor Olivia Sanchez to news and managing editor for the coming year.
Rippetoe will succeed Malika Andrews, who graduates in May.
“Rachel has been an excellent reporter and has been unafraid to go out of her comfort zone of the living section,” said Andrews. “She’s developed a unique voice that not a lot of staffers have. With her reporting skills, she will lead well by example… Rachel is a great person, leader and journalist, and The Beacon is lucky to have her at the helm. I’m excited to see what new things will come to fruition under her leadership.”
