Michelle Merlin named 2011-2012 editor in chief

| Staff Reporter

Michelle Merlin

Michelle Merlin

Junior Michelle Merlin was named editor in chief of Student Life for the 2011-2012 academic year. Her position was announced Saturday night at the annual banquet of Washington University Student Media Inc., whose board of directors oversees Student Life.

As editor in chief, 20-year-old Merlin, an Avon, Conn., native, will be responsible for hiring staff, supervising newspaper production and making all executive decisions.

Merlin has been involved with Student Life since just before her freshman year began in August 2008, when she participated in Freshman Press, the paper’s Pre-Orientation program. Merlin has steadily moved up the ladder in Student Life’s news section, going from contributing reporter to staff reporter to news editor to senior news editor.

Merlin is a political science major and is considering a minor in English.

She said she looks forward to completing the duties associated with the position.

“StudLife has been like a family to me” said Merlin. “I’m glad that I can contribute to it and continue to foster the connections and learning that I’ve found here.”

Merlin said she believes Student Life plays an integral role in connecting Washington University students to the St. Louis community.

“I love connecting to people, and StudLife enables me to do that through interviews and through the people involved with the paper,” she said.

She is also optimistic about Student Life’s room for improvement.

“I see StudLife not only as an excellent award-winning paper, but also as a training ground” she said. “I hope to create uniform improvement throughout each section, so that we can be even more excellent than we are now.”

Current Editor in Chief Kate Gaertner said she believes Merlin will excel in the position, as she has shown a strong commitment to Student Life over her nearly three years on staff.

“Michelle has a really keen sense of news and the kind of natural curiosity that makes a good journalist,” Gaertner said. “She did a great job as senior news editor, she really brought us together, and I think she’ll continue doing so as editor in chief.”

Sign up for the email edition

Stay up to date with everything happening at Washington University and beyond.

Subscribe