Dear Whitman Pioneer Community,

I am writing to report on the state of The Pioneer and of the plans for The Pioneer‘s future.

Because of a summer resignation the recently established position of Publisher became vacant. The Publisher’s position was established in order to raise the focus on the business side of The Pioneer, to accelerate our progress in making the paper a self-sustaining, independent business venture through advertising and subscription revenue.

Because of the importance of the new position to The Pioneer‘s plans, I felt it was my obligation to step into that role and lead the paper’s advertising and budgeting strategies. Throughout the summer and for the first portion of the fall semester I served both as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher. During that time, I nominated junior Gillian Frew, former Director of Content and News Editor, to replace me as Editor-in-Chief and, effective Oct. 18, I formally stepped into the Publisher position and Gillian assumed the Editor-in-Chief duties.

For the past four issues Gillian has had editorial control of the week-to-week paper, allowing me to focus on continuing to develop a solid economic and governance model that will secure The Pioneer‘s future. I am confident in Gillian’s abilities as a journalist and trust that she will continue to improve the standards, quality and seriousness of purpose for which The Pioneer has become recognized the past year and a half.

Next semester I will be studying abroad in Brussels and will be saying goodbye to The Pioneer. Gillian, too, will be studying abroad, so accordingly we have already begun the search for new leadership to continue The Pioneer‘s growth. Although the deadline to submit applications for 2010 has already passed, I want to encourage anyone who is interested in either the Publisher or Editor-in-Chief positions to apply in future years.

Leading The Pioneer is an incredible experience that has not only provided a career-building opportunity, but amazingly enriched the relationships and experiences I have been fortunate enough to have at Whitman. It has enabled me to meet and discuss important issues with President Bridges, faculty members, administration officials, Walla Walla community leaders and respected national journalists. Beyond that, there is something about investigating and writing a story that is so satisfying: the adrenaline rush you get when you find a new lead, the triumph you feel when you connect the dots between sources, the satisfaction you get from seeing your name in print, knowing that you’re providing a service for the community.

My exhilaration for working for The Pioneer began during my freshman year when I started as a reporter. By the end of the year, I decided to pursue my growing passion for The Pioneer by applying to be Editor-in-Chief. I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into: the long nights (and early mornings), low hourly pay, e-mails from readers saying how we’d messed up; but I never could have imagined how the sleep-deprived year and a half to which I was committing myself would so drastically influence my time at Whitman.

There have been many weekend nights, vacation breaks and summer days consumed with the effort and excitement of building The Pioneer. Looking back, I’m very proud of what we have accomplished: a major overhaul of our Web site that garnered national recognition by the Associated Collegiate Press for ‘Best of Show’ Web site; the creation of a Code of Ethics to guide editorial decisions and proceedings; a switch in paper size from tabloid to broadside and two major print redesigns; the publishing of our first-ever Graduation and Back-to-School Editions that jump-started The Pioneer‘s business operations, bringing in a total of $8,000 between the two issues; the expansion of our publishing schedule from 22 to 27 issues a year; the hosting of four professional journalists to campus to raise community awareness about free speech issues and mentor the staff; and the start of our first weekly radio news show serving the Whitman and Walla Walla communities, among many other things.

In many ways, The Pioneer has been my experience at Whitman so far. And for that, I will be forever grateful. It will be difficult to say goodbye to The Pioneer, to move on from my love for the paper and the people who make it work. Working for The Pioneer has shaped my life in ways I have yet to discover, and I am excited to build on everything The Pioneer has given me and to take on whatever my next challenge may be.

Before I go, there are some final goodbyes I want to say.

To our readers, students, parents, faculty and alumni: Thank you for reading and perhaps even sharing my love of this extraordinary operation; I hope The Pio has been useful to you in your relationship with Whitman, whether it be by providing you with information or entertainment, sparking debate in a class, or prompting you to speak out and voice your opinion. To the Pio staff: Thank you for supporting me throughout all the changes; you are all incredibly talented, motivated people without whom nothing would have been possible. To ASWC: Thank you for your support of the improvements in The Pio‘s organization and governance; I hope to find a way to help to contribute to those efforts as EIC- and Publisher-emeritus when I return. To the Whitman faculty and administration: Thank you for your critiques and encouragement; they gave me the prompts, cautions and validations that made progress possible. And to The Pioneer: Thank you for making my Whitman education.