Junior Riley Herron was Managing Sports Editor before being EIC.

Junior Sydney Tran was Head of Design before being EIC.

Student Life (SL) sat down with the incoming editors-in-chief (EIC) for the coming academic year to learn more about them and their goals for the paper. Riley Herron (RH), Managing Sports Editor, and Sydney Tran (ST), Head of Design, will begin their tenure Apr. 2.

SL: Why are you drawn to journalism? 

RH: I really like the opportunity for storytelling. It wasn’t something that I really discovered before college, but the opportunity to get to know someone you have no connection to and learn about their background and what they’re doing, and then be able to highlight [something] that they’re doing to a broader audience is a really special thing.

ST: I think telling people’s stories is really important, but also sharing information in general increases empathy for other people. One thing that’s always been important to me is accessibility of information, so changing the way you tell a story, or how you can portray it, can be really important in reaching wider audiences who may not have the same level of education as you or the same background. Also, I just really love yapping with people and hearing their stories. And journalism is essentially that.

SL: What are you most excited about in your role as EIC and for the paper at large next year?

RH: I’m very excited to kind of keep expanding what we do digitally. Avi and Nina and the whole team this year did a really great job and we’re very fortunate that they leave us in a great place. Syd and I have some fun ideas to continue revamping the website, and also work with social media and make sure that our content is meeting people where they are, whether that’s on Instagram or on the newsletter or in print, and enhancing everything to make it more engaging for people. I also think that Syd is a very creative person. She does a really good job [of] kind of thinking outside the box on things. She brings a very different skill set and level of experiences than I do. I’m really excited to work on our goals for the paper together.

ST: I’m really excited to be working with Riley, we’ve known each other for a long time. I also have a background in design, so I’m excited to introduce the organization to the importance of visual storytelling, because I think that’s really important. It could really uplift our paper and spread our reach.

SL: What do you think the biggest challenges will be for your role this year?

RH: It’s a very politically charged time, and we’re kind of seeing some of those tensions spill over onto college campuses and onto student newspapers. Making sure that we’re being responsible in the way that we’re covering all these different issues and serving as a reliable outlet for the student body is a priority.

ST: Part of my concern is balancing time commitments, of being a senior and spending all my time in a windowless office. One thing that makes the time commitment less daunting for being EIC is the fact that I care about it. It’s still work, don’t get me wrong, but it also feels like hanging out with my friends.

SL: What do you see as the role of a student newspaper in a university?

RH: It’s really important. I think local news at any level is very important, but for a student newspaper, specifically, there’s so much going on within a university community that people either don’t really know about or don’t doesn’t really get celebrated. I think that there’s kind of a dual responsibility of keeping the university informed about policies and things that are going on that affect them, and then also being a space to kind of celebrate the special things that people within the community are doing, whether it’s students in the classroom doing impressive research, or an athlete winning a national championship.

ST: The role of a student newspaper is to uplift the voices of people in the community. I also think it’s really important that we’re independent from the university, because that means we can report on important things that the administration is doing and encourage transparency. Student newspapers make sure that universities are [held] accountable for what they’re doing.

SL: What do you think WashU students and community members should know about Student Life? 

RH: There’s a wide range of content that we do. It’s not just kind of the news articles covering big events, but we also have a really great multimedia team putting out really impressive videos. I work[ed] with some of our sports editors on a video doing an interview with the basketball coach and getting spicy chicken wings. I really encourage people to check out all the sections and the range of content that we’re producing.

ST: StudLife is such a beautiful community of so many different people who have genuine care about the stories they tell. If you ever want to be a part of a group that will greet you with a smile and care about you more than just being a writer, photographer, designer, illustrator, [or] any of the above, that is StudLife. I don’t know what I could have been or done without StudLife. It’s so supportive and such a huge part of my college journey.

SL: What has been your favorite project that you’ve worked on for StudLife?

RH: I wrote an article this fall about this online community of D-III basketball fans, including one WashU superfan. It was really special to see people form this special community around a shared passion with D-III basketball, which feels very niche and not something that a lot of people would know about. It celebrates what’s good in college sports. It was really interesting for me to talk to all these different people and see what inspired them to get involved with it and what their outlook on the community is.

ST: Obviously, the sex issue. This year’s or any year where I get to talk about sex. That one is just so fun, especially for designers and illustrators, because you talk about something funny but also serious. We have fun designing the cover and the spread. We get to be silly with it.

SL: Is there any piece of media that influences how you think about storytelling?

RH: There’s this book I read called, “How Soccer Explains the World.” It gave me an interesting insight into how good journalism and good writing can give you insights into communities around the world that I would have no exposure to. It taught me to look at the sport of soccer that I’d always loved from a different angle, and [to] see the human elements in it. It showed me the power of storytelling to reveal something new about people.

ST: “Humans of St Louis”: It’s a book that two of my professors designed, and I think it encapsulates how design and storytelling intersect. They interviewed various people in St. Louis. The photography is amazing, the design is amazing. Being able to see people in the St. Louis community, and like the diversity that St. Louis has, especially as someone who comes from St. Charles, [MO], I think a lot of people don’t appreciate St. Louis. St. Louis is so dope. Anyone who says St. Louis isn’t cool, I’m sorry, you’re wrong.

SL: Would you rather have fish for hands, or adopt a child every time you hear “Bohemian Rhapsody”? 

RH: I think I would rather have fish for hands, just because I feel like I hear the song a lot, and I’m not ready to have children yet.

ST: I’ve asked this question, like, 1000 times and like, here’s the thing: I never hear Bohemian Rhapsody. I haven’t heard it in years, okay? And…you know, if I have to go to a death metal bar every single night so I don’t have to hear Bohemian Rhapsody, I would.