Pep band anniversary
Katie Hurst, Lifestyle Editor
I’ve gotten to write a lot of different stories this year and so far my favorite piece was my story that wrote about the USI pep band and their celebration of their 35 season here at USI. This story in my opinion was my first big story, as well as my first ever story for our newsmagazine, and so far has still been my favorite for multiple reasons.
I got to grow up going to the pep band events, so the USI pep band has always held a special place in my heart, and was one of the big factors in my decision to come to USI for college. Coming to play with the pep band feels like a full circle moment to me.
Getting to interview Tom Mace and hear his recollection of the history of the band, from the early days and the ISUE pep band to its reformation in 1990, and how he’s seen it evolve sense its early years really added a lot to the story and the pep band ties into the history of USI. I’m so happy I was given the chance to write this story, as well as be part of the history behind it.
Hurricane relief
Tegan Ruhl, Lifestyle Editor
My favorite piece from this school year was my article about how students can raise support for communities affected by hurricanes Helen and Melvin. I wrote the story out of my own curiosity – I wanted to know what’s the most effective way to help people during these overwhelming, devastating disasters.
With all of the drastic weather events we’ve had in the past six months, raising awareness for the long-term effects of these natural disasters is more important than ever. I hope it encourages people to band together and care for one another.
I also enjoyed the last article I published as a Shieldster. Titled “Hum Screags Forever’ My letter to USI,” this piece reflects my time here on campus. I’ve been blessed with three and a half wonderful years at USI, and that article was my way of saying thank you to this wonderful campus.
I always knew that graduation would be a rewarding and bittersweet moment moving on from this university. As always, hum Screags forever!
Library Hours
Abigail Durham, Staff Writer
Since I joined The Shield in 2022, I have been mainly writing feature pieces. This year, I had the privilege to expand my skills in writing to slightly more news-focused content. With trying a new writing style, I learned to be more concise in articles and about perspectives to take in making basic news interesting.
Some of my favorite stories I covered this year were “Concert safety: Why it’s important”, “Manuel D. Apodaca Valdez and Norma Rosas Mayén reflect on their careers, importance of Hispanic Heritage Month”, “International students share perspectives on upcoming presidential election”, “Curated for students: campus has a public Spotify account” and “The eventual closure of Red Mango is approaching campus”. In these features and campus updates, I was able to learn new perspectives, people’s dedication to their passions, how campus can be viewed through music and what can be important to specific groups of students.
Although I enjoyed covering every story I wrote this year, I think my best piece is “Students react to change in hours at the David L. Rice Library”. In this article, I was able to interview students, student workers and faculty that cared about the change in the library hours. It was interesting to hear the varied opinions of each person. I also enjoyed trying to come up with the best way to visually portray this story in the photos I took. I always enjoy when I am able to create the visual elements for an article alongside writing it.
The most interesting aspect of this change in library hours story to me, is how much students cared about the change. In the article I include how the director of library services and a library student worker said there weren’t enough people in the library at later hours to justify staying open later. However, many of the students I talked to were upset that the library now closes earlier because the later hours would be the only time they could work on assignments and in a quiet and peaceful environment.
Another aspect I enjoyed while covering this campus update, was the unplanned interviews I had with a student and with a library student worker. I think I have found that the non-scheduled interviews tend to give you a more real response and a more conversation versus interview feel.
